Our Endless Numbered Days
by NotesandPhotographs
Summary: As the First War begins to spill over into the Muggle World, Sirius Black is assigned to protect the Prime Minister's family. He expects it to be the most boring task he’s ever been assigned until rebellious Josephine Flanders turns his world upside down.
1. Prologue: Only Ones Who Know

Our Endless Numbered Days

Prologue-Only Ones Who Know

**Front Page of the Daily Prophet June 30, 2000**

_MINISTER FOR MAGIC AWARDS BLACK ORDER OF MERLIN POSTHUMOUSLY  
By Fiona Davis_

_Picture Caption: Harry Potter (left,), seen here with long time girlfriend, Ginevra Weasely, and Josephine O'Hara (right) accept Order of Merlin, First Class, in the stead of Sirius Black from Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt._

_Minister Shacklebolt called a press conference early yesterday morning to bring attention to his decision to absolve Sirius Black, accused and convicted of the betrayal of Lily and James Potter and the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles, of all crimes. "Black's imprisonment for a crime which he did not commit is an unspeakable tragedy. He was thrown in Azkaban without a chance to defend himself. Peter Pettigrew was the one responsible for betraying the Potters and killing twelve muggles. He faked his death to hide the fact that he was a Death Eater. There is evidence of this, including the body of Peter Pettigrew, found after the battle of Hogwarts. In light of this, testimony that I received from Black himself, in the brief time I knew him while in The Order of the Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, and Mrs. O'Hara, there is no doubt in my mind that Black is innocent of the crimes he was accused. In honor of his service to the Aurors during the first war, and the part he played in the Order of the Phoenix during both wars, I award Black for his bravery and courage in the face of adversity, Order of Merlin, first class," the Minister remarked. There to accept the award was Harry Potter, Black's godson and wizard celebrity, and Josephine O'Hara, close friend and confidante. Black's cousin, Andromeda Tonks, was also in attendance with her grandson, Ted Lupin. Potter spoke briefly, highlighting "how great a man Sirius truly was. He sacrificed everything he had for those considered family. I am proud to call him godfather and friend." Josephine O'Hara, nee Flanders, daughter of former muggle Prime Minister Joseph Flanders, graciously thanked Minister Shacklebolt for taking the time to correct the mistake and restore Black's good name. When pressed further for details of her relationship to Black, O'Hara had no comment._

Fiona Davis read her article once more, a frown marring her pretty face before she looked back up at the house across the street, the stately door, painted black, with a simple, yet elegant, gold knocker and a welcome mat outside. Josephine O'Hara lived there with her husband and her two year old daughter, Sophia. Josephine O'Hara grew up taking care of her younger brother, the popular musician Henry Flanders, of the band Rising Element. Her father was the Prime Minister of England for the majority of Josephine's adolescence, retiring from office just after she graduated from Cambridge. This was all that Fiona knew, all that the file at the Ministry had ever said about the woman. No one else seemed to know anything about her. But Fiona was going to find out.

Taking a deep breath, Fiona folded the newspaper back up and placed it under her arm. She climbed the stairs leading up to the door pausing only briefly to recall what her co-worker, photographer, and long time friend at the Daily Prophet, a muggle born wizard named Harrison Michaels, had told her about ringing the door bell. Carefully pressing the button, Fiona almost jumped when she heard the chime ring throughout the house. She waited a moment and then faintly heard footsteps approaching the door. The lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing Josephine O'Hara, her long brown hair twisted carefully on her head in a neat bun, wearing jeans and a red long sleeved shirt, a gold and red scarf that Fiona instantly recognized as being a Gryffindor House scarf tied around her neck.

"Yes?" Josephine asked and Fiona found that her voice had run away from her. She just stared at the tall, willowy woman in front of her. Josephine's lips pursed and she studied Fiona's face closely. Recognition flittered into her eyes and she frowned. "No comment." Josephine's hand went to close the door and Fiona finally snapped out of her daze.

"Wait!" The door stopped closing at the half way point.

"Give me one reason why."

"I just…I want to know! Please, you have to tell me!" The door opened up again and Josephine looked down at Fiona puzzled.

"Want to know what?" Fiona took a deep breath and started.

"It's, well, after the press conference, I really got to thinking. I mean, let's face it, how would someone like you, social elite of the muggle world, ever cross paths with Sirius Black? It just didn't make sense. So I tried to find out the connection on my own, and I went through the ministry files, at least, in the Department of Muggle Relations, where they have all the files about muggles who know about magic, but, there wasn't anything there. At least, not anything of worth. Then, my mate Harrison, well, he suggested that I come down here and talk to you. I told him no, that you'd never talk to me, especially not after I'd been so annoying at the press conference, but he told me to come anyway. Said that the worst that could happen was that you'd say no. Literally pushed me out the door of the Prophet and told me not to come back until I came here. So I guess I did. I came to figure it out because for the life of me, I can't get it out of my mind!" Fiona finished with a huff and Josephine smiled slightly at the young woman in front of her.

"You went through the wrong files. Why don't you come in? I'll make some tea." Fiona stared at Josephine for just a minute, shocked that the woman was willing to listen to her, to tell her what she wanted to know. "Oh, come on, I don't bite!" Without another moment's hesitation, Fiona walked inside, shutting the door behind her. She stared around curiously at Josephine's house, the light gold walls giving the foyer a homey feel. The walls were decorated with pictures, mostly of a little girl that Fiona assumed was Sophia.

"Sugar in your tea?"

"Yes please, Mrs. O'Hara," Fiona murmured absently as she stared around the room, fascinated by the fact that muggle photographs didn't move. She had heard so from Harrison on numerous occasions, but she hadn't believed him. Josephine came out of the kitchen, silver tray filled with two cups for tea, some sugar and milk, and the kettle setting them down in the coffee table in the sitting room.

"You know, you don't have to stay in the foyer. Come here, sit for a while. And you can call me Josie by the way. No need for formalities. I'm about to tell you something I haven't told anyone else, at least not in its entirety." Fiona, blushing a little, walked forward and sat down on the couch.

"If I'm going to call you Josie, you can call me Fi. That's what my friends call me anyway." Josie cocked her head to the side.

"Fi? As in Fiona?" Fiona nodded. "And your surname? I don't think we ever got introductions right."

"Oh, um Davis. Fiona Davis." Josie nodded and poured the tea. The two women sat in silence for a moment, attending to their drinks.

"Do you have a way of recording this?" Fiona nodded and produced a piece of parchment and a quill. Josephine laughed. "That will never fit everything!" Fi smiled.

"It's been charmed to expand however long I need it to. And the quill takes notes by itself. Not that stupid Quick Quotes Quill that Skeeter used. This quill copies down every word you say so that I have a full transcript of the interview. Less mistakes are made that way. Certainly makes the paper look better. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean I checked the wrong files?" Josie chuckled.

"It's just that, Sirius, well…You should have checked the aurors' files. That's how I met him. He was sent as a body guard for my family in case that crazy Lord Voldemort came knocking on our door." Fiona flinched slightly at the name and Josephine rolled her eyes. "He's dead now you know? At least, that's what I've been told. Saying his name isn't going to bring him back from the dead. The old man, oh why can't I remember his name. Started with a D or a B I think. You have to remember, it's been a long time for me. Four years since I was involved in any aspect of the wizarding world. And even then I only knew the bare minimum. Anyway, the old man, his name, it was…Bumblebee or Diddidore—"

"Do you mean Dumbledore?" Josephine smiled brightly.

"Yes, that's the one. Anyway, he told me, back in the second war, that fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. He was a wise man. I liked him quite a bit. It's a shame he's dead too." Fiona nodded her head in agreement. "Anyway, that's how I met Sirius. But I'm skipping ahead a bit. I mean, yes, meeting Sirius as an auror is where the story of him and I start, but in order to understand the whole thing, we need to go back just a bit to the story of me. You see, I was coming home on the train from my private school, freshly graduated, and I was angry, really angry…"

* * *

A/N: So this is my first foray into the realm of SBOC fics, which I absolutely adore. Really, all I'm thinking is "What the hell am I doing?" While I enjoy reading HP fics, writing them is an entirely different story; I'm way out of my element here. But I've had this and Chapter 1 written for over a year now, so part of me just wants to get this off my computer and have someone else see it. Sadly, working on this at the moment is not top priority. I want to though. I'm hoping some encouragement will help to get me started. Reviews are appreciated but never necessary.


	2. The Start of Something

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 1-The Start of Something

**May 31, 1981**

Staring out the window of the train, Josephine Flanders scowled at the English country side passing her by. She was pissed off at her parents, at her friends, at her former school, at the world. Nothing could make Josie Flanders smile at this moment. She should have been at Haven Secondary School celebrating her graduation with her friends and peers. But she had been barred from going by the administration after her last run in with them. In her opinion, it was unfair! She hadn't been the only one involved in the incident. And it really wasn't the worst thing she'd ever done. It was only skinny dipping in the school's fountain! Everyone did it before they graduated. But she had been the only one not allowed at commencement.

It was the first time in a long time that she actually cared about the outcome of her actions. While she liked being rebellious, liked doing what she wanted, when she wanted, she would have given her right arm to be allowed to celebrate graduating with her best friends Lisa, Donna, and Mary. The quartet had said goodbye earlier that morning, Lisa, Donna, and Mary dressed in black graduation robes, Josie in her white uniform shirt and grey skirt. The trio had walked away, getting into line to graduate and Josie, bitter and disappointed, frowned, turned on her heel and left for the train station. Her luggage had been sent home yesterday and would be there when she arrived.

Josie didn't really want to go home to number ten Downing Street. Her parents at the moment were less than pleased with her. She dreaded the punishment she knew was coming and the unbearable lecture her father would give her in regards to her unladylike behavior. It was the typical thing that happened when she misbehaved. Just because she was used to it doesn't mean she liked it. Inevitably she would be grounded, probably for the whole summer, but if she managed to behave herself she was sure that it would be cut down. She would manage to "behave" while they were looking. It wouldn't be hard as Mary, Donna, and Lisa were all going on vacation with their families for most of the summer.

She had stopped trying to impress her parents years ago. She had learned the hard way that no matter what she did, they would never give her the attention she wanted. Now, she did things for her, and only for her. If she wanted to go out drinking all night, then she would. She didn't give a shit about public image, but that seemed to be the only thing that her parents did care about. So she used that against them in the worst way possible. Their concern with how the family looked spurred her to do more things openly and publicly. It was her little bit of revenge.

As the train slowed down and arrived at the station, Josie sighed, worn out emotionally from the events of the past week. Being angry this long took a lot out of anyone. Standing up and grabbing her purse, Josie made her way to the front of the car, ready to get off the blasted train the minute it stopped moving at King's Cross Station. It screeched to a halt and Josie trotted down the stairs and off the train that arrived at Platform 9 and into the hustle and bustle of the crowd, making her way out of the station and into the street looking for a cab to take her back home.

"Oi! Josie! Over here, love!" Josie whirled around and squealed in joy as she saw Matthew Reynolds leaning against his black car. She ran over to him and jumped in his arms, showering kisses all over his face. Matthew Reynolds was what one would have considered to be her boyfriend. He was a tall boy at about five foot eleven inches tall with dirty blonde hair and clear blue eyes. He had known Josie since they were children; his father was a colleague and friend of her parents. Having been such close friends, both sets of parents knew that it was only a matter of time before they got together. In all honesty, Mr. and Mrs. Flanders hoped that he would straighten Josie out. They perceived Matthew to be a nice, respectable boy. They weren't aware of just how similar he and Josie really were. But as close as they were, Josie wasn't in love with him. Yeah, they made a good couple, but they were better friends with benefits than anything else; if he ever asked her to be his girlfriend she might just laugh. Matt and she just weren't that way.

"I've never been more excited to see you in my life Matt! I've had the absolute worst bloody week of my life."

"Aye, so I've been told by your parents. I'm supposed to bring you right home, but we could always say your train got delayed," he winked at her and Josie laughed before placing a longer kiss on his lips.

"I think I would be very much inclined to do so." Matt smiled widely at her, pushed himself off of the car, and opened the door to the backseat for her.

"After you, Mademoiselle." Josie slid into the car and Matt followed her, a wolfish grin on his face.

* * *

Josie sat in the front seat, the car parked outside number ten Downing Street, the visor down and opened, applying lipstick to her plumped lips. She raked her hands through her hair and frowned slightly. Smoothing the wrinkles out on her shirt, she turned to Matt, who leaned against the steering wheel in the seat on her right staring blankly into space and asked, "Do I look as though I've just been shagging in the backseat of a car?" Matthew snorted.

"We were just shagging in the back seat of the car." Josie rolled her eyes.

"I know, you git. But it's not exactly something I want to broadcast to Daddy Dearest when he's pissed already at me. Besides, I don't think it'd be good for you if he ever realizes that you've been deflowering his little girl in the back of your car. It would ruin your image if he ever knew you didn't splurge for a hotel." Matthew chuckled but leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips. "Oi! Watch it! You'll smudge the lipstick. Then I'll look like I've been snogging in the back seat of a car." He kissed her again which made Josie roll her eyes and hurriedly wipe away the smudge marks. He smiled at her and leaned back against the driver's side door.

"Alright, love. Are you done trying to look presentable?" Josie sighed and nodded.

"I s'pose."

"Just get it over with. It's like ripping off a bandage; doing it quickly hurts less than when you drag it out." Josie opened the car door.

"Alright, I'm going already." She leaned back into the car, the door only half way closed. She blew Matt a kiss. "See you soon love, wish me luck!"

"You'll need more luck than the world's got, Josie, my girl." Giggling, Josie shut the door and then walked up to the house and entered. Matt watched her go in and looked at his watch. He would wait for five minutes before entering himself. He'd be out of the firing zone by then.

Closing the door softly behind her, Josie stared into the empty, silent, parlor. She expected her parents to be waiting for her at the door, especially because she was late. But no one was there, not even the housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce. Taking a deep breath, Josie walked down the hallway, straining her ears to hear some sort of voice that would lead her to where her family was. Then she heard it. The faint whisperings coming from her father's office. Leaning her head against the door, Josie tried to hear what was going on. She could make out bits and pieces, but even they weren't making much sense.

"He's a dark…wants to…muggles," a female voice, aged and throaty, said. Then her father's voice, deep and commanding,

"What…do?...world…magic….not exist. Violate….laws…" A male voice that she didn't recognize, gruff and worn with age snapped back.

"Constant…danger…protection…better manners!" The door flew open and Josie stumbled backward, taking in the image of the hunched over man with scraggily grey hair and a fake eye that moved on its own. She let out a slight scream of surprise and quickly covered her mouth with her hands as if to take back the sound. Behind the man, her father, tall and intimidating, stood from behind his desk and sighed.

"Mr. Moody, please forgive my nosy daughter. Josephine, I'm rather busy at the moment. Go to your room, we'll talk later." He walked to the door and began to close it.

"But Dad, what's going on? I think I have a right to know."

"Not now, Josephine." Joseph Flanders ground out. "Just go to your room. I have bigger things to worry about than lecturing you." The door closed in her face and Josie stood there, paralyzed with shock for a moment before she turned back around and walked to the parlor. As she mounted the stairs, Matt came in from outside and smiled at her.

"Well, you seem to be no worse for the wear. How'd it go? Grounded?" Josie shrugged.

"He's busy. Said he would deal with me later."

"Where's your Mum?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. Upstairs probably." Matt looped his arm through hers.

"Let's take a look then shall we?" The two climbed the stairs to the second floor of the house. The further up the got, the stronger the smell of cigarette smoke becomes. Josie frowned.

"Mum's smoking again. Did something bad happen that I don't know about?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," he responded, puzzled. Hesitantly, Josie knocked on her parents' bedroom door.

"Mum?" she called. "Is everything alright?" The door flew open and Flossie Flanders, a mess of thin limbs and blonde hair, enveloped her daughter in a hug, cigarette still in her hand.

"Christ Josie, I've been worried sick. Where've you been? Did something happen to you?"

"I'm fine Mum. My train just got delayed," She said, sticking to the story.

"Oh thank the Lord you're alright, my precious little girl." Flossie finally let go of her daughter and took a long drag on the cigarette in her hand.

"Is everything okay Mum?" Flossie waved her hand dismissively.

"Everything is fine darling. Why do you ask?"

"Mum, you're smoking. You only smoke when something bad has happened."

"Nonsense! I smoke all the time, you know that. Oh Matthew, it's so good to see you," Mrs. Flanders exclaimed, changing the subject. She hugged the boy tightly before letting him go. "I think you've grown since the last time I saw you. Thank you so much for picking Josie up at the train station. It's a pity you must have had to wait much longer than expected."

"Ah, it's not a problem Mrs. Flanders. These things are out of our control." Flossie smiled.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Flossie? Mrs. Flanders makes me feel so old!" Matthew glanced at his watch, slightly uncomfortable.

"I should get going, Mrs. Flanders." He said, ignoring her previous instructions. Mrs. Flanders frowned and quietly shook her head, as if to say 'oh that boy is a lost cause'. "It was good to see you."

"I'll walk you to the door," Josie offered and a moment later, the two of them were back down in the parlor. "Was it me or was that really strange?" Matt nodded.

"Something's definitely going on." Josie agreed. Opening the door, Matt stepped outside.

"Give me a call when you get the verdict, yeah?" Josie smiled.

"I will. Bye Matt." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Bye Jose." Josie closed the door and sighed, leaning against it, reveling in the quiet of the house for a moment. In her mind, Josie debated going upstairs again and trying to get something out of her mother. The poor woman was a nervous wreck. It was only a matter of time before she cracked. Footsteps hurried down the hall and Josie straightened up and walked towards the stairs. Her father was most certainly walking his guests to the door. Going halfway up, Josie peered down at them. Joseph Flanders shook hands with the man he called Mr. Moody earlier and with an elderly woman.

"Thank you for your time, Minister Bagnold, Mr. Moody," he expressed

"I'll be sending Black to you tomorrow morning," was Moody's gruff reply. Mrs. Bagnold merely nodded her head.

"Until next time, Prime Minister Flanders," she announced and with that, the two strange people left the house. Joseph Flanders sighed heavily and wearily rubbed his temples.

"Didn't I tell you to go to your room Josephine?"

"I was walking Matt to the door."

"Is there a reason why you didn't continue on your way up the stairs?"

"No." Mr. Flanders frowned.

"Just…go up now. I'm not in the mood to play your games Josephine. I'll see you in my office after dinner." Josie smirked.

"Aye, aye sir." She replied cheekily and saluted her father before continuing on her way up the stairs. Ignoring her father's orders, she didn't go into her room. Instead, she peered into the room of her brother Henry, all of seven years old. He had a mop of unruly sandy brown hair atop his head and the deepest blue eyes that Josie had ever seen.

Josie loved her brother because she knew no one else would. He was technically a "mistake". The Flanders had only ever planned on having one child. But eight years ago, when Flossie had suddenly found herself pregnant again, that had changed. But when Josie, all of nine years old at the time, heard the news, she couldn't have been happier. Perhaps it was some old misguided desire to have a doll to take care of, but she knew that Henry would be all hers. Perhaps it was that she knew that Henry was doomed to a life of more inattention than she ever had to endure. He was not wanted, and while loved, their parents would always resent him slightly for changing the dynamic of the family. But Josie never did. When her parents brought Henry home from the hospital, Josie didn't think she'd ever laid eyes on a more beautiful thing.

"Jojo!" Henry called out, leaving his comic books on the ground and running over to his sister. "You're home!" Josie smiled widely and hugged her brother.

"Yes, yes I'm home. Did you miss me?"

"I missed you lots, Jojo. Mrs. Pierce doesn't like to play games with me and mommy and daddy are too busy have fun. But now that you're back, we can play all the games I've been wanting to since you were home over Easter."

"Well, not tonight buddy. Tomorrow, I promise, we'll play, but tonight Daddy needs to talk to me after dinner. But until then, let's get you cleaned up and ready for dinner." She scooped the seven year old up in her arms and he squealed with delight as she brought him into the bathroom and began to run a bath.

* * *

Josie flounced into her father's office and plopped down in a chair and waited for her father to catch up. She wondered how long she would be grounded for this time. Usually something that wound her up in the headmistress's office warranted a month of grounding. Her father entered slowly and shut the door behind him quietly. He sat down and stared at his desk, his face set in a frown. His glasses were on the desk beside him and sighing, he ran a rand through his thick, brown hair that was starting to gray. Josie waited for him to start, to lecture her, to tell her what she did was wrong. In a twisted way, she craved it. Anxiety grew in the pit of her stomach as she realized that her father wasn't going to say anything. Had this been the last straw? She had to break the silence.

"So what's it gonna be this time Papa?" Mr. Flanders sighed.

"Tomorrow, Mr. Moody is going to be bringing by a colleague of his named Sirius Black. Mr. Black is going to remain with us indefinitely." Josie's scrunched up her eyebrows as she thought about what her father was saying.

"Okay?"

"Mr. Moody, whom you were eavesdropping on earlier is the head of the Auror Department of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement—"

"Wait, magic?" Josie interjected. Her father held up a hand and gave her a warning look that clearly said to not interrupt him.

"He came by with the Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold, to talk about security for our family. There is apparently a dark wizard on the loose, the darkest all times have seen, who is trying to rid the world of all those who are not of a pure magical line. He has the entire population so scared of him that they dare not speak his name. He is referred to as 'You-Know-Who'. Now, normally, I wouldn't be telling you any of this. But you were right earlier; you have a right to know. I know this is a shock, Josephine, but magic does exist and for our safety, the Ministry has come forward to warn us about it. We are prime targets for an attack.

"This is not the first time I've had to deal with these people and let me tell you, they only involve us when it's absolutely necessary. They're rather private. I'm sure you understand that all of this information stays in the family. You cannot tell anyone. Not Lisa, not Donna, not Mary, and especially not Matthew."

"I won't tell anyone," Josie replied, subdued. Suddenly, a thought came to her. "Does Mum know about this?"

"Yes, she does." Josie chuckled.

"Of course. That would explain her smoking like a chimney." Joseph Flanders raised his eye brows but chose not to comment.

"I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't have to. You have enough to worry about as it is. I know that things here and at school have not always been…perfect, but you're almost eighteen, Josephine. I need you to be responsible, to understand the danger we're all in. We both know that I can ground you until the sun burns out, but you'll still find your way out of the house. So I need you to promise me that you won't leave the house without accompaniment."

"Dad! That's unfair!" He sighed.

"I don't care! Contrary to what you believe, Josephine, I love you. You are my daughter. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"But Dad—!"

"No buts. This is the way it has to be. Besides, from what I understand, Mr. Black is about your age. He shouldn't be too much of a hindrance when you go out with your friends."

"Wait, you're letting me go out of the house? I'm not grounded?" Mr. Flanders shook his head.

"Not unless you want to be. I've talked with your headmistress about this latest stunt you pulled, and besides the absolute lack of decorum involved, quite frankly, I think we both know that you've done worse things. I feel that the school has punished you enough for your childish antics."

"I'm seriously not grounded?" Josie clarified.

"Yes. Look, Josephine, I've a lot of work to finish." Knowing a dismissal when she heard it, Josie nodded and stood, slowly making her way to the door, closing it softly behind her. With a sigh, she leaned against it, the weight of what she was just told finally hitting her in the face.

Magic was real? It couldn't possibly be real, could it? This could just be a big joke that her Dad was trying to pull on her to get her to behave. But that thought was quickly disregarded. Her father had no sense of humor. And as much baggage as there was between them, he had never lied to her, not even about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy.

So magic was real—oh the possibilities. If magic was real, what else was? Unicorns? Aliens? Bigfoot? She felt like the world she knew was gone, pulled out from underneath her like a rug. Everything was topsy turvy, upside down, and sideways. What on _earth_ was she going to tell Matt?

Shaking her head slightly, she tried to shake the thoughts from her head. She headed to her room to head to bed. She was exhausted, her mind was reeling, and all she wanted in that moment was to have her head hit the pillow and forget about everything that had happened that day.

As she shut off the light and curled up in her bed, her eyes closed, and her breathing beginning to even out, her last intelligible thought was that if she was magical, she'd use her powers to be invisible.

* * *

A/N: Finally satisfied with this. I've been playing with it for a long time. I can assure you that Chapter 2 will not be out nearly as quickly as this chapter. For one, it's always easier to go back over an already written chapter and make changes than it is to start from scratch. Number two, school's starting back up in a couple days. So I'll work on this when I can, if I can.

Thanks to those of you who reviewed and added me to your alerts. Especially **Solitaireclay07**. Without her, I'd never have the guts to post this story in the first place. Read her stuff, if you haven't already. It's fabulous.

NaP


	3. Expectations

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 2- Expectations

**June 1, 1981**

The morning came far too soon for Josie; before she knew it, Mrs. Pierce came charging into her room and threw open the curtains. Mrs. Pierce was an older woman in her sixties that had been keeping house for the Flanders since Joseph had taken his post as Prime Minister. However, she was far from a nice grandmotherly figure. Stern and firm, Mrs. Pierce had seen Josie at her best and, more often, at her worst. While the woman had displayed no outward signs of anything but polite, respectful duty towards her, Josie never bothered Mrs. Pierce with tricks or pranks, like she did with her mother and father; out of fear or respect, Josie wasn't sure. "Rise and shine, miss." Josie groaned as sunlight made its way across her face and into her eyes.

"Five more minutes," she mumbled, throwing the covers over her head. Mrs. Pierce sighed before ripping the blankets off of Josie's body.

"That won't do, miss. Five minutes turns into ten and ten turns into thirty and the next thing you know, you've slept half the day away! Now up! Breakfast will be served in thirty minutes, and you are expected to be there. In fact, I believe that your mother stated that under no uncertain terms are you to not attend this breakfast." Josie huffed, but finally sat up.

"Fine, fine, I'm up."

"Good, miss. Your brother needs waking now, so I can trust that you'll be able to bathe yourself without my supervision?" Josie rolled her eyes.

"Yes." Shifting to move towards the edge of the bed, Josie got up and picked up her bathrobe that was lying, haphazardly across a chair on the other side of the room. Seeing that Josie was up and moving, Mrs. Pierce nodded quickly in her general direction before leaving the room to go and wake Henry up. With a sigh, Josie trudged to the shower and turned the water on. While waiting for it to get warm, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror and gazed at her reflection. She wasn't a vain person by any means, in fact, any time after the morning, she avoided mirrors and looking at her reflection. But ever since she was eleven, she always began her morning ritual by staring at herself in the mirror, examining her face, looking for flaws, for mistakes, for blemishes; trying to find something, anything wrong with her to give herself, some sort of explanation as to why her parents wouldn't give her the time of day. And while she realized now that there wasn't anything wrong with her, she couldn't break the habit. So every morning, she would stare at herself in the mirror: her vacant brown eyes still filled with sleep and her mussed up brown hair sticking out in different directions, her sometimes blemished skin; she took this all in, tried to commit it to memory, tried to understand how the person in front of her could be who she really was.

Tired of looking at herself, Josie turned away and stepped into the shower; the water was scalding hot.

* * *

Sirius Black was not particularly pleased with his next assignment, but if it got Lily Potter to cook him breakfast, then he wasn't going to complain. At least, not at that particular moment. His 10 month old godson was sitting in his high chair, giggling as Sirius made funny faces at him. Lily, the love of his best friend's life and purveyor of the delicious breakfast, was in the kitchen, making him an omelet. James, said best friend, was nowhere to be seen, presumably somewhere on the second level of the tiny cottage in Godric's Hollow. The smell of food turned out to be too much to resist, however, as a moment later, James Potter made his appearance at the table, dressed in pajama pants and nothing else. Walking over to his wife, he kissed her on the cheek before smirking and saying, "What's cookin', good lookin'?" Lily groaned.

"Seriously?" She gave him a look that clearly said he was being an idiot, although by the way she was smiling, James knew that she was amused. "That was bad, even for you." James chuckled but said no more to Lily, moving from his wife to his son, giving Harry a kiss on the forehead.

"Hey there, little man. How's he been this morning?" James asked Sirius. Sirius shrugged.

"Good as always. Not particularly fussy, my godson. He's easily amused; just like his father." James affectionately smacked Sirius upside the head.

"Aw shut it, Padfoot."

"Breakfast is almost ready James. Go put on a shirt," Lily interjected. James rolled his eyes.

"It's just Sirius," he pointed out. "He doesn't mind." Lily whirled around, spatula in hand and gave James a stern look.

"I don't care if it's just a homeless man that we met on the street, James Potter, you will wear a shirt at the table."

"And what if I don't?" James challenged, although everyone present knew that he would concede to his wife and put on a shirt.

"Then no breakfast for you! I'm sure that Sirius could eat both of these omelets, with no problem."

"Ah, she's got ya there, Prongs," Sirius commented, grin on his face. "I'd never turn down lovely Lilykins' cooking."

"But—" James tried to reason but Lily would have none of it.

"No buts. Go put a shirt on James, then you can eat. And Sirius, if you call me Lilykins again, this'll be the last you ever taste of my cooking!" Sirius laughed while James disappeared upstairs again, grumbling.

"Yes, ma'am, whatever you say! Just don't take the food away!" Lily rolled her eyes and placed an omelet in front of him.

"You're ridiculous."

"And proud!" A moment later, James re-emerged, this time with a shirt on. Lily smiled and presented him with breakfast before sitting down at the table. All three of them ate in relative silence, enjoying being in the presence of each other. Harry gurgled from his high chair, his eyes wide with excitement as he watched what was going on around him.

"So, new assignment, Pads?" James was the first to break the silence. Sirius grunted in displeasure at the mention of where he was off to after this breakfast.

"Yeah. Babysitting spoiled muggle leaders. Should be a blast."

"You never know, could be kinda fun," James tried to reason with his friend. Sirius snorted.

"About as fun as a thorn in my side."

"Actually, considering that you'll be watching Josephine Flanders, I can see that," Lily chimed in. Sirius gave her a blank look.

"Who?" Lily sighed.

"She's the Prime Minister's daughter. She's usually in the news for doing something obscene. She's not exactly a well behaved child. Always seemed like a bit of a brat to me, to be honest."

"Great! Something to look forward to!" Sirius exclaimed with all the sarcasm he could muster.

"The rest of the family may not be that bad," James pointed out. Lily shook her head.

"Actually, from what I can tell, I mean, I haven't followed muggle politics closely, but the wife's a bit of a floozy. And the Prime Minister, well, a colder man I have yet to see. In every interview I've seen or read, he's remarkably stiff and lacks any sort of warmth or geniality. Only bright spot of that family is the son, but he's just a little boy. Six or seven, something like that. Of course, he's bound to turn out as messed up as the rest of them, but that's a few years down the line yet. You probably won't be protecting them by that point, Sirius." Sirius had stopped eating and looked at James with a smug expression on your face. James groaned.

"You're not helping Lily." Realizing that she had only reinforced Sirius' perception that this would be the worst assignment ever, instead of trying to make the situation better, Lily tried to come up with something to say to reassure her husband's best friend.

"Oh. I'm sure you're right, though, James. It shouldn't be too bad."

* * *

"...One…two…three…" Josie didn't waste another second bolting out of the kitchen running through the dining room. She only had until Henry counted to thirty before he would come looking for her and she needed to find a good hiding spot and quick. Exiting the room and fully expecting to come into an empty foyer, but to her surprise, a rather good looking young man, dressed in black slacks and a white button down was standing awkwardly at the entrance and she was heading straight for him. Josie attempted to stop moving, but as her feet were clad only in her white socks, it was easier said than done on the hard wood floors. They collided before Sirius could even register that there was a girl flying at them.

Splayed out on the floor, both of them groaned in slight pain from the contact with the floor. Sirius had felt most of the fall, cushioning Josie as she had fallen on top of him.

"Bloody hell, woman! What is your problem?"

"What is _my _problem? What is _your_ problem? What are you doing just standing in the foyer, like some creeper?"

"Ready or not, here I come!" Josie froze. Sirius began to answer her question, but she completely ignored him.

"We need to hide. Quickly!" She scrambled to her feet, pulling Sirius with her and hastily looked around for somewhere to hide. Her eyes landed on the coat closet and, without another moment's hesitation, she shoved Sirius into it before jumping in herself and shutting the door behind her.

"What exactly are we hiding from?" Sirius asked, frustrated. The back of his head was throbbing from hitting the floor and absent mindedly, he rubbed it.

"Shh! He'll hear us." They sat in silence for another moment before Sirius sighed and began to get up.

"This is ridiculous." Josie grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

"You can't go out there. Then he'll find me."

"Who will?" Sirius asked again.

"Henry! We're playing hide-and-seek. God, don't you people understand anything?"

"_You people_?" Sirius questioned, incredulously. "What exactly does that mean?" Josie sighed.

"I'm referring, obviously, to your choice of career."

"And what exactly is wrong with my career? I'm out there, on the front lines, doing good so that people like you can enjoy their privileged life without having to worry." Josie rolled her eyes.

"I'm so glad you think so highly of your position, but being my father's lackey isn't exactly 'on the front lines', as you put it." Her reply was caustic and she finished it with a sneer. Sirius almost laughed in disbelief.

"I don't work for your father. Believe me, if I did, I'd do the world a favor and off myself." Josie frowned at this statement, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion and worry.

"Who the hell are you and what were you doing in the foyer, then?"

"I'm Sirius Black and believe me, if I didn't have to be here, I wouldn't."

"Oh, you're magic boy," Josie said, realization making its way across her face. Sirius frowned at the term.

"Magic boy?" But the pair didn't have time to debate the subject because the door flew open and light shined into the coat closet.

"Found you!" Henry squealed and immediately, Josie smiled.

"Yes, you did! You're turn to hide," she remarked, getting up off the floor of the closet and walking out of it back into the foyer. Sirius followed suit. "Go on, now."

"Nuh-uh," Henry said. "You need to close your eyes and count."

"Ah, right." Josie covered her eyes with her hands and began counting. Henry ran down the hall, towards the stairs, his little feet taking him far away from the foyer. As soon as she could no longer hear Henry's footsteps, Josie stopped counting and uncovered her eyes. Sirius was standing next to her still and she took in his appearance. She had to admit that he was good looking. His black locks were on the shaggy side and his clear gray eyes almost glowed. He was fit, she could tell, just by looking at him. He wasn't smiling at the moment, not that Josie could really blame him, but she imagined that when he did, it made him even more gorgeous. "So, magic boy, I'm assuming you want to see Daddy, huh?" Sirius rolled his eyes, obviously disgruntled at the new nickname that had been bestowed upon him.

"Yeah. And you've got to stop calling me that."

"Oh? And what would you rather I call you?" Josie asked.

"My name," Sirius replied, simply. Josie snorted.

"Sirius? No, that won't work. I'd feel ridiculous. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but your name is rather odd."

"It's not like I asked for it. Besides, look who's talking _Josephine_. Not exactly a common name, is it, even in the muggle world?" Sirius responded, bitingly.

"First of all," Josie snapped, "the only person who calls me Josephine is my father and I gather that's because he's so vain, he likes to say it to remind me and the rest of the world that I'm named after him. Secondly, just like you, I didn't exactly have a say in the matter. And lastly, the name's Josie. That's what everyone calls me. Better get used to it, because the next time you call me Josephine, you'll regret it." Josie was annoyed; this Sirius character had already managed to get under her skin. She pursed her lips, and without another word, turned on her heel and left the foyer. Henry should have found a hiding spot by now.

As she climbed the stairs, Mrs. Pierce appeared in the foyer, presumably to take Sirius to the Prime Minister; Josie didn't stick around long enough to find out.

* * *

A/N: Why did I write this? I certainly did not have time to do that. I will regret this much later. You cannot even fathom just how busy I've been these past weeks and still am. Now, I'm back to disappearing again for God knows how long.

This is completely unedited, which means I might go back and change some details later, but nothing major.

Leave a review on your way out, yes?

NaP


	4. You Got Me All Wrong

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 3-You Got Me All Wrong

An hour after she stomped up the stairs in a huff, intent on finding and finishing her game of hide and seek with Henry, Josie was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Part of her, deep down, was still annoyed with magic boy, although an encroaching sense of guilt was beginning to well up in her; her comments were slightly out of line and she could have made a bit more of an effort to make a good first impression. She frowned; guilt always left a bad taste in her mouth. She would have to apologize, a thought, in and of itself, which was rather foreign to her.

She didn't often apologize, only when she actually felt that she was in the wrong. And as she replayed the scene over and over in her head, she had come to the conclusion that she clearly was. Just because she was in a bad mood over the way the summer started didn't mean that she had to take it out on him. Sirius Black, for all she knew, could be a really good guy. _Not to mention, gorgeous,_ she thought, a smirk finding its way on to her face as she remembered his good looks. His presence during the summer would be interesting, that's for sure.

Having made her decision, Josie pushed her thoughts away and rolled over towards the phone, impulse taking control of her body. Dialing a number she knew all too well, she held the receiver to her ear, listening to the rings. She bit her lip, the action unconscious, as she waited for Matt to pick up. The phone rang and rang and for a moment, Josie thought that perhaps he wasn't home, that he wouldn't pick up. Just as she was about to hang up the phone, the telltale click of someone picking up on the other end reached her ears. Josie smiled as Matt's voice filtered through the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hiya Mattie," she said quietly.

"Josie? Is that you?"

"Yeah yeah, it's me. Sorry for taking so long to call you. Daddy and I didn't finish talking until late last night and the only thing I wanted to do was sleep."

"No big, love. I've got a hold of you now, don't I?" Josie giggled.

"I suppose you do."

"Anyways, I'll get straight to the point. How long are you grounded for?" Josie opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn't, but something caused her to hesitate, although she didn't know what. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "That bad?"

"Uh, no, actually," She finally said, regaining her voice.

"No? You're not grounded at all?"

"Uh yeah."

"Well that's great news! Listen, Jose, since you're not grounded, you gotta meet up with me tonight. The gang's all heading over to Dylan's to hang out and get pissed." A big smile over took Josie's face.

"Sounds perfect. What time do I need to keep an eye out?"

"I can swing by and pick you up around nine."

"Dinner should be done by then. Don't come to the door though; I may not be grounded, but the parentals don't exactly want me going out at all hours of the night, until god knows when, unattended. Apparently there's been some sort of threat on the family; we've got a new body guard and everything. Anyways, usual signal?"

"Two flashes, three beeps."

"I'll see you then."

"Bye Josie!" She hung up the phone and pranced over to her record player, blasting her music and dancing crazily around her room until Mrs. Pierce knocked on her door for dinner.

* * *

As an outsider, Sirius couldn't tell if the tension in the dining room was due to his presence or if this was a normal occurrence for the Flanders family. The Prime Minister sat at the head of the table, his eyes unfocused, his fork occasionally bringing food to his mouth. He chewed slowly, contemplatively, as if he was trying to figure out if he actually enjoyed the food he was ingesting. Mrs. Flanders or Flossie, as she had instructed him to call her accompanied by a suggestive wink that Sirius chose not to think about, barely ate anything, drinking her wine instead. This caused her tongue to loosen, for her to talk during the meal, although most of the time she didn't make much sense. Henry squirmed in his chair, making towers out of his food and then knocking it all down, with sound effects, to keep himself occupied. And Josephine was brooding, her eyes on her food that she moved around with a fork, but barely touched. Her head was cocked to the side and supported by her left hand, her left elbow placed firmly on the table.

Sirius himself ate quietly, quickly, pausing only to observe the family or to answer a slightly slurred question that Flossie directed his way. Was this normal, he wondered. Were all muggle families like this? Sirius hoped it wasn't so. It reminded him far too much of his own family, growing up. The stuffy, pureblood, proper society mannerisms that he had been forced to endure as a child, were exactly like the situation he was observing now. His eyes found their way back to Josie, her quietness unnerving him. From their encounter before, Sirius fully expected her to be outspoken, rebellious, loud, even obnoxious at the meal tonight. But in the presence of her parents, she seemed to withdraw into herself; she didn't make eye contact, she barely spoke, and she hardly moved. It unnerved him, how quickly this girl could go from one extreme to another. With a sharp gasp, Flossie Flanders diverted Sirius' attention.

"Darling," she spoke, "Your birthday is at the end of the month." Josie shrugged, her face still bent towards the table. "Oh, wouldn't it be just wonderful to have a party?" This, however, got her attention.

"What? No!" Josie hastily objected, her head having swiveled quickly towards her mother, her eyes wide in shock.

"Oh, but Josie, darling, it would be so much fun!"

"Mum…" Josie started, her voice filled with warning. "Don't you think that that's not a good idea, considering the current circumstances?"

"Nonsense! Sirius will fit right in. Oh we can invite all your friends, all of mine, some dignitaries your father knows. Oh it will be wonderful, Josie, don't ya think?" Josie vehemently shook her head.

"Mum, all my friends are away right now."

"Matthew isn't. Oh that boy is absolutely delightful. He's a good boyfriend, darling, picking you up from the train station." Josie groaned.

"He's not my boyfriend, Mum. He's just a friend. And the more you push us to be in a relationship, the longer we're going to resist, so just quit while you're ahead. Matt and I are not in a relationship and will never be in a relationship, got it?" Flossie fidgeted in her chair, clearly affronted.

"Young lady, that's no way to speak to your mother! I'm being nice here. If you don't want a party, fine. The party won't be for you. But, by god, I want a party. I need a distraction!"

"Florence," Joseph cut in, his voice weary. "That's enough." Instantly, Flossie stopped talking about a party. Silence resumed at the dinner table, but this time, it seemed too much for Josie to take.

"May I be excused?" She got up, not waiting for an answer and left the room. A few moments later, Mrs. Pierce swept in to get Henry ready for bed. Mr. Flanders left without a word and Mrs. Flanders wandered off in search of some more wine. Sirius sighed in the abandoned room. He desperately wanted to talk to James, to relate to him what was happening and to have a good laugh about it, but both he and Lily were in hiding. Seeing them at all was a risk, one that he wasn't willing to take after he had seen them only that morning. It was complicated enough getting in and out that morning undetected. For a moment, his thoughts drifted to the mirror he had among his belongings in the guest room he had been placed in—the two way one that would allow him to get in contact with his best friend. But who knows if James would have his around; he was always busy these days, raising a family and doing work for the Order. Sirius understood, he really did, but that didn't mean he was any less bitter about the fact that he and James seemed to be drifting apart.

* * *

Taking a drag of the cigarette, Josie visibly relaxed. She exhaled it out the window, careful to make sure that the smoke wouldn't blow back into her room. Not only would her mother have a fit, a rather hypocritical one, Josie thought, but so would Mrs. Pierce. She didn't smoke often, especially not while she was at school, but there was something about staying with her parents that made her crave a smoke.

"You know, smoking can kill you," a male voice said from her doorway, startling her so that her cigarette fell out of her hand and onto the street below.

"Bollocks," She turned to the intruder, her eyes landing on Sirius Black, and she frowned. "You owe me a fag." He shrugged, his hand reaching for his pocket and taking out his wand.

"Accio cigarette," he murmured and instantly, her cigarette came flying back through the window and into his hand. He walked forward, handing it to her. She plopped it back in her mouth, awe written across her face. With another flick of his wand, he had relight the cigarette.

"Handy thing, that magic stuff is," Josie commented, exhaling.

"Eh, sometimes," Sirius commented. "Other times, not so much. It gets to people's heads, the power, and then a war breaks out. People are killed on both sides. And what for?"

"It's the human way. Even without magic, we find way to kill each other. It's inevitable. There is nothing good about the human race."

"That's true I suppose. Lily's told me a bit about Muggle history. Seems to be just as bad as our own."

"Muggle?" Josie questioned.

"People who aren't magical. Not a bad term, just a statement of fact."

"Ah." Finishing her cigarette, Josie put it out against the window sill. "So, this Lily, she your girlfriend?" Sirius chuckled.

"No, not at all. She's my best mate's girl. Well, his wife now, I suppose."

"Do ya like her?" Sirius shrugged.

"She's good for James. They're good for each other." Josie turned to face him, to study him. His face was closed off.

"That doesn't answer my question. Do you like her?"

"As a friend," Sirius finally settled on a response. Satisfied with this, Josie nodded and turned back out to face the window.

"I'm sorry about this morning. I was acting like a brat. It was rude and unnecessary." Sirius frowned at this apology, said with such little emotion. Her voice was robotic, her face was blank, her posture stiff, like apologizing was a traumatic event that she needed to block out from her memory.

"It's okay." Sirius responded hesitantly. "Start over?" Josie nodded, sticking out her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Josie Flanders, disillusioned youth." A smile made its way onto her face and Sirius decided that he liked that expression much better than he liked her blank, emotionless face.

"Sirius Black, wizard extraordinaire," he joked with a wink. Josie laughed.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"So, Mr. Black," Josie said, taking out another cigarette and lighting it, "What do you magical people do for fun?" Sirius shrugged.

"We're in the middle of a war right now. Not much fun to be had."

"Come on now, there must be something you do to blow off a little steam." Sirius never got to reply because in that moment a car slowed down in front of Number 10 Downing Street, flashed its lights two times and sounded the horn with three short bursts.

"Well," Josie said, putting out her cigarette, "that's my cue to leave. We'll have to continue this conversation later."

"Where are you going?" Sirius asked.

"Out!" Josie called over her shoulder, exiting the room quietly. Not moving, Sirius continued to stare out the window and saw Josie sneak out and crawl into the front seat of the car. The car took off immediately; Josie's laughter echoing in the night was the only trace of her left behind.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so it's a little shorter than I would like and a lot more boring than I would like, but it is an update.

Feel free to leave me a review, yes? Please? Anything would suffice. You know you want to!

NaP


	5. The Charming Side of Drunk

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 4-The Charming Side of Drunk

Dylan's basement had been the hang out place for Matt and Josie's friends for as long as she could remember. When they were little, the whole gang used to play pretend in the basement; Josie was always a princess, Matt her knight in shining armor coming to rescue her from the villains and dragons, played by their friends. Those were the days, she thought. Those were the days before she was screwed up, before she was flawed and broken and empty inside. Those were the days when right and wrong were as clear as black and white; the days when everything seemed perfect, simple, and understandable.

Things had changed so much since then. Friends had come and gone. Josie had grown up, gone to boarding school, lost her innocence, and was in a constant search for something fulfilling. She didn't even know most of the people here anymore. The children she had grown up with were strangers to her now, having spent most of her time away from London, but even those familiar faces were few and far between; just Matt, Dylan, and Dylan's sister, Annie. Everyone else in the room was unfamiliar. Josie had never really noticed it before, as Lisa, Donna, and Mary had always served as her buffer.

"Josie, love, everything alright?" Matt whispered into her ear. They were sitting on the black leather couch that was shoved in the corner. The rest of the gang was sitting on the white shag carpet that covered the ground, playing truth or dare, spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven, or some other completely inane game. Music was playing softly in the background, an old record playing the MASH theme song—_Suicide is Painless_—and for an absurd second Josie wondered what the _hell_ she was doing here. "Josie?" Matt questioned again.

"Yeah?" She replied breathlessly.

"You okay? You're off in your own little world."

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem like it. Does this have something to do with what you said before? About there being a threat made on your family?" Josie shook her head.

"Why the fuck would you think that?" Matt sighed angrily.

"I don't know, perhaps it's 'cause you've been sitting here sulking all night and I can't for the life of me figure out why? Did I do something Josie? Because I've been wracking my brain all night wondering what I could've done to make you this cold." Josie's face softened at Matt's rant.

"It's not you Matt," she murmured. "It's never you."

"Then what's wrong?" Matt questioned exasperatedly, his voice rising.

"I can't tell you."

"Why the hell not?" Matt all but yelled. Josie didn't answer. All the talking in the room stopped as everyone on the floor turned to look at Matt and Josie. Matt scoffed. "I don't know why I was expecting you to tell me anything. You never do." Matt's weight on the couch shifted as he stood up and walked away. _Suicide is Painless_ was still playing in the background; Josie would have given anything to shut the damn song off. Instead, she downed the rest of her beer—her third? Fourth? Of the night—and finally faced everyone sitting on the floor. A lot of the girls in the group had begun to whisper amongst themselves and the guys were looking anywhere but at her, like that somehow proved that they weren't eavesdropping and hadn't just heard her fight with Matt.

"Dylan?" She croaked and grimaced at how hoarse and unused her voice sounded.

"Yeah?" The brown haired boy said, his gaze still firmly fixed on the wall next to her. Josie cleared her throat.

"Do you have anything stronger?" The boy nodded.

"It's uh, upstairs. I'll just go and get it, then." As soon as Dylan moved, the talking began again full force. Someone changed the record and the dulcet tones of ABBA were now what faded into the background. Sinking back into the couch, Josie wondered what Sirius Black was doing.

* * *

"Oh Mattie, don't be mad at me," Josie pleaded, her words slightly slurred as the car came to a halt once more outside number ten Downing Street. "I didn't mean it. I'll tell you what you want to know, I really will!" Matt's face remained as cold as stone.

"Whatever, Josie, as long as you get out of the car when you're finished."

"Matt, why are you so mean to me? You're shupposed to be my best friend. Best friends aren't mean to one another."

"Josie I love you, I really do, but right now, you need to get out of the car and sober up." Matt sounded exhausted and for a moment he rested his head on his hands, which were still placed firmly on the steering wheel. "You're shitfaced," he murmured, but Josie didn't hear.

"Fine, if you won't be nice to me than I won't tell you the secret about Sirish Black."

"Who the hell is Sirius Black?"

"Siriush Black," Josie whispered loudly, "is a witch!"

"A witch?" Matt asked her puzzled. "You know what, it doesn't matter. You're making no sense because you're drunk off your ass."

"Fine," Josie huffed. She reached to her left and struggled with the door latch, finally managing to open it and stumble out onto the pavement, struggling to walk. Matt sighed and got out of the car.

"Here, let me help." He placed a hand on her arm to help guide, but Josie tore her arm away from him.

"I'll be fine. Walking is trixshy," she informed him, holding her index finger in front of her face, "but I can do it."

"Whatever, Jose. I'm outta here." Matt turned on his heel and clambered back into the car.

"Mattie, don't go," Josie whimpered, but Matt either ignored her or didn't hear her, because the car started and was gone the next moment. Josie, groaning, began to slowly climb the few stairs that led up to the door. Fumbling with the key that was in her back pocket, it took her a full five minutes to open the door. The thought occurred to her that maybe Matt was right—she had had too much, and that thought was immediately followed by a wave of nausea which stopped her in her tracks. The urge was so strong that all Josie could do was fall to the floor and hope that lying down would make the desire to vomit go away. Not looking where she laid down, she bumped into a table, sending a vase filled with flowers toppling towards the floor. With a crash, glass and water went flying everywhere. Josie paid it no mind, still laying down, among the shards of glass on the floor. One sharp piece pierced her arm and a small amount of blood began to pool on her skin.

Fortunately, the crash had woken two people in the house. And even luckier, for Josie, those two people were not Mr. and Mrs. Flanders. Mrs. Pierce, upon hearing the shattering of glass knew exactly what to expect when she got out of her bed and put on her slippers and bathrobe. She had been doing this for quite a while—and was used to this occurrence and annoyance in the middle of the night. Sirius on the other hand, jolted awake at the sound. He reached for his wand and, not even pausing to put on a shirt, ran out the door to inspect.

Mrs. Pierce reached the scene first and sighed, seeing Josie all but asleep on the floor amongst the mess she made.

"Oh child, when are you going to stop making extra work for me?"

"Mmmm," Josie responded. Slowly, Mrs. Pierce leaned down and took hold of Josie's hands, trying to pick her up off the floor. But being as old as she was, Mrs. Pierce could hardly lift Josie. Sirius arrived on the scene a moment and sighed with relief seeing that it was just Josie and not Death Eaters.

"Merlin, what the hell did she do?" He questioned, causing Mrs. Pierce to jump slightly.

"I didn't see you there, Mr. Black." Sirius shrugged.

"S'okay. I just got here. What happened?"

"I'm assuming this one knocked the vase over when coming in. As for why she's on the floor, well, that's pretty obvious if you ask me. She reeks of alcohol; probably couldn't walk on her own anymore at this point."

"Here, let me," Sirius said, waving his wand. "_Reparo_." Immediately, the vase reconstructed itself, water, flowers and all, and sat itself back on the tiny table in the foyer. Then, with a swish and flick, "_Wingardium Leviosa_."

"Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick," Josie murmured as her body floated into the air.

"No, you won't," Sirius cautioned.

"S'not like I can help it," Josie groaned. Sirius ignored her, moving towards the stairs. Josie's body floated along after him and Mrs. Pierce followed behind him. "God, this is like one really bad trip."

"What?" Sirius questioned, unfamiliar with her slang.

"Nevermind, I—"Josie stopped midsentence, gagging.

"Okay, you focus on not barfing all over the place. I'll worry about your strange, Muggle phrases later." They arrived at Josie's room and, opening the door, Sirius levitated Josie to her bed. Finally still, Josie sighed.

"That's better," she murmured, her nausea subsiding slightly. Sirius turned to Mrs. Pierce.

"Does this happen often?" Mrs. Pierce nodded.

"Not so much lately. I was hoping things might change this summer, however it seems to be restarting old, unhealthy habits already."

"You can go to bed. I'll keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't choke on her own vomit or something," Sirius said. Mrs. Pierce nodded and left, leaving Sirius alone in the room with a mostly asleep Josie.

"I did something bad," Josie whispered.

"Yeah, I'm sure your liver hates you right now. The rest of your body is gonna hate you in the morning." Josie groaned at the thought.

"No, not that. I told Mattie about you. I wasn't shupposed to. Daddy said not to." Sirius shrugged.

"It's not a big deal if the kid knows I exist."

"No, I _told_ him about _you_," Josie stressed. "I told him you were a witch." Sirius snorted.

"I'm not a witch, I'm a wizard. And you're so drunk, no one is gonna take you seriously. No harm done. You should get some rest."

"I'm sorry," Josie said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I didn't mean to. Don't hate me."

"I'm not going to hate you," Sirius replied, used to the drunken mood swings of intoxicated people. Back at school, when James would get absolutely smashed after Lily rejected him more cruelly and heartlessly than the time before, he would go from being crazy hyper and excited, to destructive, to wallowing hopelessly in his own, delusional misery. Sirius was glad that Lily finally accepted, that things had worked out, and he'd never have to listen to another "she secretly loves me, she just hasn't realized it yet, when is she going to realize it, why does she hate me, I love her, doesn't she know that?" rant again in his life.

"You don't know that. You don't know me. I'm a horrible person. You're better off if you hate me." Sirius shrugged.

"You're right, I don't know you, so I'm going to withhold all judgment, including hatred until I do. Now c'mon, get some rest. You'll feel better if you do." Josie seemed to finally listen to Sirius, relaxing a bit and snuggling into the bed. She rolled over onto her arm, which had been cut earlier and hissed.

"Owie. It hurts."

"What does?" Josie rolled back over and, sitting up slightly, presented Sirius with her arm. The cut wasn't deep, but it was certainly present. In the dim light of the room, Sirius could make out a sliver of glass in the wound.

"Merlin," he muttered. "_Accio_ glass." The bloody sliver flew out from the cut and landed in his hand.

"Ow, that hurt," Josie murmured, her eyes fixed on Sirius, slightly unfocused. Sirius was silent for a second, his face contemplative, as if he was wondering what he should do next.

"_Episkey,_" he said, making his decision. The cut disappeared. "Just so you know, this is the only time I'm doing this. Next time you get yourself so drunk you can't walk and manage to hurt yourself, you're on your own."

"S'okay," Josie whispered, now sitting up and inspecting her healed arm. "I managed nefore bow…I'm still really drunk…" She burst into giggles. Sirius allowed himself a small smile.

"Yes, you are which is why you should sleep it off." Josie nodded.

"You're the boss." More giggling ensued and Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're really pretty, ya know?" Josie remarked.

"Er, thank you?" Sirius responded, his eyebrows knit in confusion as to the appropriate reply to that statement.

"You're welcome." Josie was too drunk to pick up on his confusion. She lay back down, yawned and closed her eyes. "G'night." Sleep came quickly to the drunk girl, but not to Sirius. No longer in the mood to sleep, he pulled a chair that was in the room closer to Josie's bed. He watched her sleep, his mind wandering from thoughts of his placement at number ten Downing Street, the friends whose lives had already been lost, Lily and James, Peter and Remus. When his thoughts were finally spent, and he could no longer put together a coherent sentence in his mind, Sirius Black closed his eyes and went to sleep, still sitting in the chair in Josephine Flanders' room.

* * *

A/N: School is over! I've only got 2 weeks of papers, packing, and partying left until I start summer!

Anyways, thanks for all the support I've been getting on this story!

In regards to updates, I would appreciate it if you would visit my profile page and read about the possibility of me updating, if you're at all interested about when to look for an update on this story. Thank you!

Leave a review on your way out? Please and thank you!

NaP


	6. Hide and Seek

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 5-Hide and Seek

**June 2, 1981**

"Jojo!" A loud whisper in her ear urged and Josie groaned, shocked out of her slumber. "Jojo, wake up!"

"G'way, Henry," Josie whimpered at her brother. Her tired, hungover brain knew it had to be him; he was the only one who ever called her Jojo.

"Jojo, you need to wake up. I can't take your temperature if you're asleep." Forcing her eyes open with a sigh, Josie tried to focus on her brother.

"Why'dya need to take my temperature, Henry?"

"Mrs. Pierce told Mommy that you were ill at breakfast. Please don't be sick Jojo. I don't want you to be sick. If you got sick, you'd have to go to the hospital and then you'd die and never come back."

"Henry, I'm not sick. I'm a bit under the weather, sure, but I'm not going to go to the hospital and die. I promise. I just need to sleep." Josie closed her eyes again, willing sleep to return.

"Pinky promise," Henry demanded. With a sigh, Josie lifted up her arm, presenting her pinky to the child. He crossed his pinky with hers and squeezed.

"There, all better." Henry nodded.

"Will you feel better in an hour?" Henry asked.

"I dunno. I might if you let me sleep."

"Then we can play a game?" Josie nodded.

"Yes, Henry. When I'm feeling better, we'll play a game." The boy smiled brightly. "Now scoot, you."

"Okay, bye Jojo!" Henry bounced off her bed and ran out the door, closing it softly behind him. Josie lay still for another couple of minutes, regaining her bearings. She was awake now, however much she didn't want to be. Forcing her eyes to reopen, she stared at the ceiling. So she was definitely in her room. Josie couldn't remember how she had gotten to her room, but she was certainly lying in her comfortable bed, still in her clothes from last night—even her shoes were still on her feet. Concentrating, she tried to recall anything from the previous night; she had been so excited when Matt had called, but waking up now, she could feel it in the pit of her stomach that something had happened.

Matt. Oh Mattie. Smacking herself on the forehead, Josie groaned. "Oh God," she muttered, the mess coming back to her now. "Fuck."

"That's not very lady like language there." At the sound of another, male voice in her room, Josie sat up quickly, her eyes wide opened now.

"Fuck," she said again, her eyes landing on Sirius sitting in the chair next to her bed, sans a shirt. "What the hell are you doing in my room?" Sirius shrugged.

"Fell asleep here. Only woke up a bit before you."

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"Just making sure you didn't die. You were a little drunk when you stumbled in at the wee hours of the morning, Flanders."

"I…I don't remember. The last thing I remember is getting in a fight with Matt."

"Well, whatever you did after that involved lots of alcohol. You couldn't even stand up right. Wound up knocking over a vase and waking Mrs. Pierce up."

"Oh shit. The one in the foyer, right?" Sirius nodded. "Mum's going to have a cow."

"Um yeah. Don't worry about it. I fixed it."

"Fixed it?"

"Yeah, fixed it. Didn't do it for you or anything, either. Mrs. Pierce was going to have to clean up the mess and, well, it just didn't seem fair to make the elderly do something like that when I could just wave my wand and make everything better." Sirius looked at his hands, doing his best to seem nonchalant.

"You magicked it into the trash can or something?" Josie inquired, wearily.

"Um, why would I do that when a simple _reparo_ will fix it?"

"Fix it, like fix it, fix it?"

"What does that even mean?" Sirius responded, his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Like, there's no way to tell it's broken or anything? No glue, tape, adhesive marks?"

"Um, no. Well, that's not true. There's a little nick on it. The spell missed the sliver of glass in your arm. That's somewhere around here, I don't really know where though; lost track of it in the night. You might want to be careful where you step for a little bit." Sirius explained.

"Christ, I want to be magical. I could get away with everything," Josie replied, looking amazed. Sirius laughed.

"Somehow I think you get in enough trouble without it."

"That's true." Josie agreed with a sigh. She stretched her arms over her head, tugging at the sore muscles. Her head ached a bit, her back was stiff, and she was sure her hair was a mess. With a yawn, Josie shifted her legs out from under the covers and stood up. "Now's as good as time as any to get up, I suppose. Henry'll be back before I know it and I'd like to have a shower before that happens."

"Er, right." Sirius said, standing up himself and making his way towards the door. "I should just go, then."

"Um, before you go…" She trailed off, searching for the words. Sirius stopped and faced her.

"Yeah?"

"Um. Last night. Did I say…I mean…this is rather awkward…I just…"

"You didn't embarrass yourself that much, if that's what you're asking. And apart from a little bout of self pitying nonsense, you didn't say anything stupid." Josie sighed.

"That's a relief. Thanks. It's just that….well… I don't remember." Sirius shrugged.

"It happens to the best of us."

"And, uh, I didn't mention why Matt and I were fighting? I mean, it would be a lot easier to apologize if I knew what I did to make him mad."

"You didn't mention anything. You did say you told him about me though."

"Oh shit." Sirius shrugged.

"He probably didn't believe you anyways. You'll think of something to tell him to explain that away."

"I suppose." Sirius nodded and turned back towards exiting the room, but paused once more.

"Uh, Josie?" Josie, who had, upon believing the conversation to be concluded, entered the bathroom, popped her head back out.

"Hmm?"

"I may be out of line, saying this. I mean, I don't know you very well. And I don't know this Matt character at all. But in my opinion, the last thing you should do is apologize. He doesn't deserve one. I mean, he just left you to fend for yourself when you were clearly too drunk to do so. I don't care what you did, there's no excuse for him to take off. You deserve better." Josie stared blankly at him after he finished, her mouth opened slightly in shock. "And I'm, uh, just gonna go now." The next instant, Sirius had left the room, closing the door behind him. Josie stared after him for a second, a sweet smile forming on her lips. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had said something so nice to her.

* * *

Showered and dressed in a fresh set of clothes, Josie stood in the doorway of her bathroom, her eyes focused on the phone sitting on the nightstand. Her face was blank, but her mind was not. She was struggling to remember the argument from the night before.

They had argued in the basement and he had stormed out. She remembered that much. He had accused her of not telling him anything. But what did it matter if she told him or not? They were friends—good ones, yes—but that didn't entitle him to know every thought that came through her head. And if she wanted to talk about it, she certainly wasn't going to do it in Dylan's basement. What right did he even have to be angry?

Sirius was right; the jerk didn't deserve an apology. It didn't matter how belligerent she got; she was clearly too drunk to make a decision. And he had just left her. What if she had been unable to get inside? What if someone had abducted her? She had told him that security was tightened because of a new threat-yes a magical one, but he didn't know that! Something terrible could have happened to her!

Let him call her and apologize. The situation certainly warranted one for his callous behavior. She was Josie freakin' Flanders; she wasn't treated like she was a speck of dust—to be swept away and never thought about again. Matt would call; he always did after a night when she drank too much. And when he did, she would certainly give him a piece of her mind for his behavior. Only after he admitted he was in the wrong would she consider apologizing for her behavior. Resolute in her decision, Josie stalked out of her room and ran directly into her mother.

"Josie, darling, I was just coming to look for you!"

"Uh, hi Mum." Florence shoved a piece of cardstock into her hands.

"What do you think?" Josie looked down at the rectangle of paper; it was a simple, cream invitation with a gold border. In gold, elegant script read the words 'You are cordially invited to the celebration of Josephine Victoria Flanders' eighteenth birthday'.

"Um, Mum, I thought we agreed that there wasn't going to be a party."

"Nonsense. We can't _not_ have a party. This is your eighteenth birthday, Josie."

"But dad said—"

"Oh it doesn't matter what he said at dinner last night. I managed to talk him into it at breakfast this morning. Of course, there were some limitations—family only. And the Reynolds'; they're practically family anyway. So I'm inviting my sisters and their families, and both sets of grandparents."

"Mum, that's seventeen people."

"That's not that many. If I had it my way, we'd have at least fifty here. And I would invite your friends and their families, but you told me they're away."

"You don't have to invite the Reynolds, you know."

"Of course I do. It won't be long until they're actually family."

"What exactly are you suggesting, mother?"

"Well, I think we all know that it's just a matter of time before Matt proposes. He might wait until you both finish university, but that's only a few years. It's right around the corner."

"Matt and I aren't dating and are certainly not going to get engaged anytime soon!" Josie exclaimed, outraged and frustrated. Her mother reached out and put a calming hand on her arm.

"It doesn't matter if you're not so called dating right now. I completely understand your reluctance to put a label on your relationship with Matthew. But the inevitability of your relationship with Matthew is that in a few years, you're going to be married, settled down, and starting to have children."

"What the hell, Mum! This is 1981, not 1951! I'm my own person; I have my own goals and dreams and not a single one of them includes marrying Matthew Reynolds!" Josie ripped her arm out of her mother's grasp and stormed down the hall to go look for Henry. Flossie called after her, something about watching her language, but Josie was too heated to care.

* * *

Back in his room, Sirius was thinking. He was laying on his bed, his left leg bent towards him at the knee, his right leg hanging slightly off the end of the bed, swinging lazily. His hands were behind his head and he stared directly at the ceiling, his eyes unfocused. The window next to his bed was open and the sounds of people walking around the city reached his ears. There was some sort of dispute going on down the street—a car accident, although Sirius didn't know or understand what that was—but Sirius paid it no mind. Instead, he was lost in thought. This had been happening to him a lot these days, even before he arrived at the Flanders'. James and Lily were in hiding, Remus was off doing god knows what—although, Sirius did wonder exactly how the werewolf did spend his time-, and Peter was working at an entry level job at Gringotts. The only companion that Sirius had had for the weeks coming up to his assignment at the prime minister's were Mad Eye Moody, who wasn't exactly the best conversationalist, and Steven Horton, a good natured fellow who Sirius worked with, but not someone with whom he would share his innermost thoughts.

So instead of talking, Sirius thought. He had spent countless hours locked in his head, turning over everything about this war, about all his problems and looking for some sort of solution towards it. When thinking about the present got to be too much, he thought about what life would be like in the future, after he and his friends got through it. The thought of even one of them not making it through this war wasn't an option and was automatically shut out of Sirius' mind. He couldn't think like that. He already knew that he had too much going on in his head. If that thought got in his mind, it would never get out and it would drive him to the brink of insanity.

But to be honest, Sirius was tired of thinking. He supposed that this was payback for not thinking all those years, growing up, at Hogwarts, only acting on impulse. Now he had nothing else to do but think. And he was sick of it. He needed to talk to someone, needed to do something other than lie in this bed, in this stifling room, and think.

And as if he called her to him, Josie whipped open the door. A little shocked, but a hefty bit relieved to be in the presence of another person, Sirius sat up and opened his mouth to say something. But Josie completely ignored him, instead, striding purposefully into his room and dropping right to the floor, examining under his bed. Confused, Sirius stood up and tried to figure out what she was looking for.

"Uh…" No words came to Sirius as Josie laid on her stomach on his floor, peering under his bed. Not finding what she was looking for, she sighed, pushing herself up into sitting position and looking around the rest of the room carefully. When her eyes landed on Sirius she paused and her face softened from the determined look that was present for her searching.

"So this is where they put you, huh? I should have guessed."

"What exactly are you doing?" Sirius asked about her strange behavior

"Henry and I are playing hide-and-seek again," she explained.

"And you thought he would be under my bed?"

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time he's hidden there. It's one of his favorite spots, to be honest."

"And you couldn't have just asked if he was there?"

"How do I know you wouldn't have lied and said no? I learned long ago that in games of hide-and-seek, there's no point in asking anyone if they've seen Henry. It's easier to just check for myself."

"Oh. Okay then." What else was he supposed to say? The more time he spent around Josie Flanders, the less words he could come up with. She said and did things that, in a million years, he would never expect. She was unpredictable, surprising, exciting, if not exasperating at some points. Perhaps it was a muggle thing—perhaps this was how all muggles were; Sirius would have to ask Lily the next chance he got.

"Well, I should get back on the hunt." Sirius nodded at her and Josie rewarded him with a small smile. She left the room just as quickly as she came in, no trace of her left behind. Sirius sighed and moved back towards the bed to sit down and resume his thinking. And then Josie did something else unexpected—she came back. She stood in the doorways, her posture slightly awkward and indicative of her slight anxiousness over what she was about to do.

"Yes? Did you forget something?" Sirius asked, politely.

"Do, uh, you want to join the game? Help me find Henry, then we'll do this thing properly." At twenty one, Sirius never thought he would desire to play hide-and-seek. But in that moment, there was nothing he wanted to do more. He nodded.

"Yeah, sure." Josie's smile this time was wide. Sirius thought she looked incredibly pretty when she smiled.

"Great. Shall we?" Josie extended her arm to him. He chuckled at her actions, but looped his arm through hers. Arm in arm, the two exited Sirius' room in search of Henry.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all the support I've been getting on this story! Every review, every alert notification makes me incredibly happy. I'm glad to know that there are people out there who enjoy this fic. I can't tell if I like this chapter or not, so you'll all have to let me know what you think.

Again, please see the profile page for my excuses about not updating. I promise that I will get you all a chapter in August, before I go. But that's the best I can do. Until next time!

NaP


	7. If You Find Yourself Caught in Love

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 6-If You Find Yourself Caught in Love

**June 9, 1981**

Matthew Reynolds had a problem, and that problem had everything to do with Josephine Flanders. He hadn't called her in a week, not since that night. He realized that this didn't help his relationship with Josie, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. If he called her, apologized for his behavior, and listened to her apology, he would be exactly where he was at the start of this whole mess—completely and irrevocably in love with Josie.

And that was exactly the problem.

It wasn't like Matt had wanted to fall in love with Josie. He certainly hadn't planned it. But somewhere between their friendship and their friendship with benefits, the line got blurred. Matt knew that she didn't feel the same way—how many times had she laughed off her mother's comments about their eventual marriage? How many times had she insisted to her family that they weren't dating? How many times had she told him that they could never be like that? Josie _never_ wanted to do what was expected of her. And, unfortunately for him, he_ was_ expected.

The fight at Dylan's had been his fault. She hadn't done anything. He had picked the fight because he wanted her to react a certain way that would show him that she felt the same way. But Josie, as always, didn't do what he wanted her to. He so desperately wanted to know everything that went on in her head, to know what she wanted before she articulated it. He wanted a certain level of intimacy that had nothing to do with sex, but Josie would never be able to give that to him. He wasn't sure if she would ever be able to give it to anyone. Growing up like she had caused her to put up a wall around any personal relationship she had. If things got in too deep, then she would pull away, out of instinct, to protect herself when things inevitably came crumbling down.

He wished that she'd just give them a chance, so he could prove that they wouldn't fall apart. But he knew that they'd never last. Josie could never feel the way about him that he felt about her. So he couldn't call her, couldn't see her until he got over her.

And with these thoughts playing on a loop in his head, Matt sat down at his family's breakfast table and began to eat a muffin. He was alone—it was a bit late for breakfast. His parents were gone, off to work, the both of them. He supposed that Anthony, his little brother, had already eaten, as he was usually an early riser. He had already, Matt was sure, gone over to his friend Bill's house, taking Connie, one of his younger sisters with him. That left him and his other sister, Connie's twin, Ashley alone in the house. Matt hoped that she would stay in her room, sleep until he had managed to figure out what to do with himself for the day—which would most likely end with him just locking himself in his room and turning up his music really loud—so that he could eat his breakfast and mope in peace.

It wasn't that he disliked his sister; in fact, it was quite the opposite. Ever since they were children, Matt and Ashley had been fairly close. Connie, until the arrival of Anthony, preferred to be on her own. Connie was quiet and reserved, which didn't mesh well with Ashley's and Matt's outgoing attitudes. But today the issue Matt had with being so close to his sister was that she always knew what was going through his mind. He had been moping for a week, and so far, Ashley hadn't said anything, but that had more to do with the fact that he was avoiding her than anything else. He didn't want to talk about Josie; he was rather content to leave the whole thing in his head. Ashley wouldn't allow for that to happen. It was only a matter of time, Matt realized, before she cornered him and demanded an explanation, but he was intent on putting that off as long as possible.

Aware that Matt had been avoiding her for the last week, Ashley peered into the dining room and saw Matt munching on his breakfast and frowned in indecision. Should she go in or leave him be? Normally, she'd demand an explanation, but the glimpses of Matt that she had caught this past week left him looking absolutely miserable. Instinct told her to let him sort it out on his own for a little while. But how long is enough? When she saw Matt finish his muffin, sigh, and put his face in his hands, Ashley knew that it was time to intervene.

"What's got you in such a funk, big bro?" He groaned at the sound of her voice and peered at her through his fingers. Anna raised her eyebrows at him. He shook his head 'no' and it was Anna's turn to sigh. "Okay fine, you don't want to talk, I'll talk." She waited a moment, looking for a sign that Matt was listening. He removed his hands from his face, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "You've been avoiding me, and don't try to deny it." He didn't. "So I let you be, because I'm a good sister and I know you well enough to not push things."

"Well, you're pushing them now, aren't you?" Matt sneered. Ashley rolled her eyes at him.

"I also know you well enough to know that sometimes, you need to be pushed."

"Well now you're just contradicting yourself." Ashley snorted.

"I thought you didn't want to talk?"

"You're right, I don't. So I'm just gonna go back up to my room and—"

"Uh uh, not so fast," Ashley said, forcing Matt down into his chair. "You're going to sit there until we get to the bottom of this." Matt didn't try to move again, know that it was easier to just let his sister talk. "I know a lot about you Matthew Robert Reynolds. And putting that knowledge to good use, I can only assume that the reason you've been…well…like you are right now is because of Josie." Matthew frowned at this conclusion, mostly because she had hit the nail on the head.

"You don't know anything, Ashley, you're only fifteen."

"Oh and at eighteen you know such much more about life than me. Puh-lease. Anything you've done, I've done. You're just mad that I'm right."

"It's got nothing to do with Josie," Matt insisted, hoping his sister would just leave well enough alone.

"I call bullshit."

"Well, you're wrong."

"You're a terrible liar, Matt."

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes, you are! C'mon, this'll be over much sooner if you just tell me what the bint did this time." Matt scowled.

"Don't talk about her like that. She didn't do anything. Well…not really anyways." Ashley sighed.

"Look, it's no secret that I don't like Josie. But I'm not exaggerating here; she's always done something. That's just the way she is. So fess up! I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"What if I don't want your help?" Matt retorted nastily.

"You do. Your male pride is just interfering with your ability to accept it." Matt sighed.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you. But I don't want your help. I just want you to leave me alone."

"You'll change your mind," Ashley said, confidently. Matt snorted.

"I don't think I will."

"Then I guess we'll have to see. So, Josie," Ashley prompted, causing Matt to sigh.

"We got in a fight and—" Ashley laughed.

"What else is new? All you two do is bicker and make out." Matt glared.

"Are you finished? Or should I wait?" Ashley waved her hand at Matt in an annoyed gesture, as if to say 'get on with it.' "So we got in a fight, which is really to say that I picked a fight with her for no reason at all than to just see how she would react."

"Did she react the way you wanted her to?"

"Can I just tell the damn story? You can commentate later." Ashley didn't respond, leaving Matt to continue. "So, no, she didn't act the way I wanted her to. She just got annoyed. I got angry, yelled at her, she sulked and drank, then I drove her home."

"And?"

"And that's it." Ashley stared at Matt disbelievingly.

"You can't be serious. That's it? That's what's turned you into a moping mess this past week?" Matt nodded. "Did she reject your apology or something? Because I'm failing to see how a little lovers spat could have such a drastic reaction."

"Well, I haven't exactly apologized yet."

"And why the bloody hell not? God, it's a miracle that girl let you into her knickers!" Matt flushed.

"Ashley!"

"What? It's not like it's a secret or anything. For Christ's sake Matt, even old Mrs. Hamilton down the road knows you two are shagging. You both think you're being really discreet, but I'd like to take this opportunity to inform you that you are anything but." Matt didn't respond, but his face did get redder. Ashley laughed at her brother. "Aww I didn't mean to embarrass you Mattie. So call her up and apologize. And send the girl some flowers. She'll come around. Besides, you can't avoid her forever. We're all going to her birthday celebration or whatever in a couple weeks."

"What if I don't want her to come around?" Matt asked. Ashley cocked her head to the side at this new information.

"Why wouldn't you?" She questioned calculatedly, putting the pieces together in her mind.

"Because I'm…"

"You're…" Ashley pressed.

"I'm in love with her, okay? I can't get her out of my bleedin' mind! She's there all the time. And all I want to do is tell her how I feel, but then I remember, I can't do that! This is Josie Flanders! She'll eat my feelings for breakfast. It'll be easier for me to get over her if I just…don't talk to her, don't see her, don't apologize. I dunno. It makes sense in my head," Matt babbled away, unable to stop the words from spewing out of his mouth.

"She loves you too," Ashley told him. Matt stared at her, slightly bewildered.

"How do you know that?"

"I've seen the way she acts around you. She lights up a room with her smile when you come in. She likes to spend time with you, although I have no idea why—"

"Oi! You spend plenty of time with me yourself."

"I suspect that I got dropped on the head as a child, and that's why I do the things I do, including hanging out with you. But the point of this entire exchange is that Josie is just as much in love with you as you are with her." Matt sighed.

"I'd really like to believe you, but I can't. I know Josie—a whole lot better than you do, for that matter. And she doesn't want me. Not like that. And she's…pulling away I guess. You didn't see her at the party. She didn't want anything to do with me. And she's said a thousand times that we're not dating, that things aren't like that. And I really…I just need some space, so I can get over her. Then we can go back to being friends." Ashley snorted.

"Look, as a girl, I can tell you right now that if you don't do something, she's not gonna wait around. Right now, you have a chance. You could convince her, should she need convincing, but I really don't think that she does, to give an actual relationship a shot. Or you could tell her that you found someone else and just want to be friends from now on. But if you don't do anything, if you continue on moping around the house and not calling her like some sort of coward, then you're not just going to lose your chance with her, but you're going to lose your friendship too."

"She's probably angry with me for not calling sooner." Ashley shrugged.

"Well, imagine how much angrier she'll be if you wait any longer?" Matt sighed, but a small smile managed to make its way over his face. Ashley, as always, hadn't just helped him sort through his thoughts but gave him hope. He couldn't remember why he had been so reluctant to talk to her.

"Thanks for your help, Ash," he murmured.

"Oh, what's that?" Ashley cupped her ear. "I couldn't quite hear you. Did you say thank you for the help? Because I thought you didn't want my help." Matt rolled his eyes and reached up to ruffle Ashley's hair. "Hey, what'd you do that for?" Matt shrugged.

"No reason. Where are Anthony and Connie, by the way?"

"They went over to Billy's about an hour ago."

"I don't quite understand why Connie goes over there with Tony."

"Well, it might have something to do with Billy's older brother Sam."

"No!" Matt laughed in disbelief, "Has our Connie, our shy, unadventurous, inexperienced Connie finally got herself a boyfriend?" Ashley shrugged.

"I don't know the particulars. For twins, we're surprisingly not close; you know this. But Constance, as our esteemed sister would like us to refer to her from now on, did mention something about him having lips as smooth as silk." The two of them burst out into laughter at this description.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Josie began, a smile of amusement on her face. Sirius sat next to her on the floor of his room, smirking. "You and your three friends were the popular pranksters of secondary school or whatever it is you magic people call it?"

"Yeah. Is it that hard to believe?"

"Yes!" Josie laughed. "You're so serious all the time, I feel like I'm the one that needs to pull a prank on you so that you'll lighten up." Sirius wasn't surprised.

"Times are…dark, to say the least. I've gone to six funerals of friends in the last three months. It's rough. People are dying left and right and, while I like to think that I am doing something to stop this stupid war, it's never enough," Sirius admitted solemnly.

"Are things really that bad?" Josie questioned. He nodded. "Why exactly are you all even fighting each other?" Sirius heaved a sigh.

"There's a mistaken belief by some in the magical community that muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards are somehow inferior because their blood isn't 'pure,' whatever the hell that means."

"But why? I mean, we're all people, aren't we? So I can't do magic, that doesn't mean I'm any less of a person than you are!"

"Exactly! It's stupid, killing each other over this blood purity nonsense."

"I just…can't understand why people want to hurt others that haven't done anything to them," Josie whispered, frowning. Sirius scoffed.

"Oh to be seventeen and naïve!"

"Hey! I'm not naïve! And I'm almost eighteen."

"Good, perhaps another year will give you as jaded an outlook on the world as it did me," Sirius remarked.

"You don't seem that jaded to me."

"Ah, well, you have nothing to compare it to."

"Okay, point to you."

"Oh you get points for being right in the muggle world?" Sirius joked.

"Uh, no it's just an expression…" Josie responded, confused. Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It's a joke, Flanders. And you said I needed to lighten up!"

"Oh, well, I mean, I just—"

"It's fine Josie. I get where you're coming from. And considering my background, I can understand why you would doubt my knowledge of the muggle world."

"What do you mean by that?"

"That blood purity stuff? Yeah, well, the ancient and noble house of Black gives its support whole heartedly to that belief." Josie's eyes widened.

"Really? But…I mean, you're not like that at all!"

"Well, I'm glad you think that. Best compliment I'll ever receive in my life."

"Oh?" Josie prompted, "Um…that is, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I wouldn't have started the topic if I didn't want to discuss it," Sirius assured her. "I'm what you would call the black sheep of the family. Was sorted into Gryffindor, didn't hold back my opinion about their stupid beliefs, and even ran away from home."

"Where'd you go?"

"My best mate, James, you remember, I told you a bit about him and his wife Lily, well, his parents took me in. I stayed until I finished school then moved out, using a little inheritance that I got from my favorite uncle to finance a flat in London. And that's the story. Not very interesting, but people certainly like to talk about it a lot."

"Ah gossip. I more than understand that."

"You've got a reputation of your own, apparently. I can't say I knew much about you before arriving here, but Lily said that you were in the papers a lot." Josie sighed, frowning slightly.

"I don't want to talk about it," She responded, eventually. Sirius shrugged.

"Your choice." Silence enveloped the two, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Slightly bored and not sure what else to do, Sirius studied Josie, who was sitting across from him on the floor. Her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms encircling her legs, pulling them closer to her chest. She rested her head on her knees and her brown eyes were unfocused, staring off into the space to the left of Sirius' head. Her long, brown hair was draped across her right shoulder; absentmindedly she twirled a strand around her finger. In a sudden shift of mood a huge smile burst onto her face and she began to laugh.

"Oh my gosh, I just realized! I said you're serious all the time and you are. 'Cause your name is Sirius. Sirius…serious…get it?" She managed to get out between giggles. Sirius rolled his eyes, having clearly heard the joke far too many times before.

"Haha, I bet you think you're so original," Sirius responded sarcastically. Josie shook her head no, still giggling.

"It may not be original, but it is the first time I've heard it!" Sirius scoffed, letting her get her laughter out of her system. "Besides, I like puns."

"I knew a guy once, who told ten different puns to his friends, hoping that one would make them laugh. Sadly, no pun in ten did." Josie stared at Sirius quizzically for a moment, until the meaning of his joke washed over her. She laughed.

"That's a good one!"

"Well, I aim to please," Sirius replied with a wink.

"Oh, how about this one: there were two ships. One had red paint, one had blue paint. They collided. At last report, the survivors," Josie paused for dramatic effect, "were marooned." Sirius snorted with laughter.

"This duck walks into a bar and orders a beer," Sirius responded, "'Four bucks,' says the bartender. The duck replies, 'Put it on my bill.'" Josie giggled.

"A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, 'So, why the long face?'"

"An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either."

"Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too." And with this last pun the two devolved into laughter, unable to tell anymore terrible jokes. When their giggling subsided, Josie sighed contentedly, her stomach slightly aching. She smiled brightly at Sirius and he returned it. Butterflies welled up in Josie's stomach, which startled and confused her. The feeling didn't plague her long, however.

"Oi! Padfoot!" And just like that, Sirius was distracted. His head quickly swerved to his bedside table where a small, rectangular hand mirror sat. Getting to his feet, he all but ran the short distance across the room to pick it up. Instantly, Josie forgot about the butterflies that were stomping around in her abdomen at the slightest sign of Sirius' smile and curiosity got the better of her.

"Everything okay, Prongs?" He asked worriedly, focused on his best friend.

"More magic things?" Josie questioned from the floor, but Sirius ignored her. If James had heard her inquiry, he didn't comment on it.

"Things are fine, Sirius. I'm just checking in on you; we haven't heard from you for a week. I wanted to see how things with the muggles were going." Sirius sighed with relief.

"Merlin, here I was thinking that something was wrong. Things are going well; nothing exciting, but that's a good thing. The last thing I want is for a whole crew of death eaters to storm in here."

"That's good to hear. So, what are they like? I'm dying to know. Is the girl as much of a brat as we thought she would be?" Josie gasped and Sirius' eyes widened as he slowly turned to look at her, knowing she had just overheard what James had tactlessly said.

"Is that what you really think of me? That I'm just some rich brat?" Her face was closed off with anger.

"Josie, it's not like that. It was a conversation before I even knew you—"

"Oh so you judged me without knowing a thing about me? Great."

"Josie—"

"I don't want to hear it, magic boy. It doesn't matter. Besides, I was only hanging out with you because I have nothing better to do." And with that oh so witty insult, Josie stormed out of the room. Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, turning back to James, who was still in the mirror, looking rather sheepish.

"What, exactly, did you want again James?"

* * *

Back in her room, Josie slammed the door behind her before beginning to pace in an agitated way. She was angry. How could he, who had just been prattling on and on about equality and not judging people because they're different from you, have written her off like that? If the situation had been reversed, he would have lectured her on not assuming things about people she didn't know. Gosh, he was an inconsiderate, stupid hypocrite! Why did she care so much? With this last thought ringing out in her head like a bell, Josie stopped pacing and flopped on her bed, burying her face in her pillow. Screaming as loud as she could, Josie attempted to let off some steam. Supporting herself with her arms, she pulled away from the pillow, red faced and surprised to find tears welling up in her eyes.

What was _wrong_ with her? She never cried. Well, at least not over something as stupid as this. Wiping away all evidence of her emotional outburst from her face, Josie sat up. Taking a deep breath, Josie tried to calm down a bit; however, the phone rang, which only wound Josie up more than before. Who on earth could be calling her _now_ when she needed time to process everything going on in her head? Without thinking, as she had been avoiding the phone for the past week in case Matt called, she picked it up and snapped, "Yes?"

"Uh, Josie?" The male voice on the other end was clearly recognizable. Josie growled.

"Go to hell, Matt!" She yelled, slamming the receiver back down. Rolling over and laying back down on the bed, Josie stared at the ceiling and began to list all the green things she could think of, in an attempt to calm down.

'_Grass. Lettuce. That sweater that looks fabulous on Mary. Emeralds. Artichokes. Brussels Sprouts. The Wicked Witch of the West. Turtles. _Why do I even care?' Josie asked herself again. It shouldn't matter what some guy she had only known a week thought of her before he met her. And he had all but said that his opinion had changed. He didn't think she was a brat. And in the long run, his opinion didn't matter. He would be gone soon enough and while he was certainly good looking, he wasn't unforgettable. Besides, it's not like she…

Her eyes got as wide as they possibly could at her realization. Groaning, she threw her arm over her face. She couldn't possibly…She was Josie Flanders. She did a lot of stupid things, but she never did stupid things like this!

But she had. Josie Flanders had done a stupid thing that many girls before her had done; she had developed a crush on one Sirius Black.

* * *

A/N: Surprise! I know I said that you wouldn't see an update until August, but I've managed to write this a little bit at a time over the past month, and now it's finally done. And even though I'm updating now, you'll still get one more in August.

Happy 4th to all my American readers!

Feel free to leave a review on your way out—I'm interested in what you think of this very full, very long chapter.

NaP


	8. This is Not What You Had Planned

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 7-This is Not What You Had Planned

**June 13, 1981**

_I cannot believe I am actually considering this_, Josie thought, standing in the doorway of the parlor, watching her mother with a careful eye. _Clearly, I am in need of more girl friends. _Asking her mother for romance advice was the last thing that Josie ever wanted to do, but she didn't have very many options right now; Donna, Mary, and Lisa were all off on vacation. Donna would return first, at the beginning of July, with Mary and Lisa following sometime in early August. They would have been the first people that Josie would have gone to in a time like this and without them, Josie was at a bit of loss. She didn't have any more close friends with whom she could talk about this…silly crush that had somehow developed. The situation, unfortunately, was getting too out of hand for Josie to consider waiting it out until Donna returned.

Four days. Four days since she had charged out of Sirius' room in a rage. Four days since she realized that she liked the bloke more than was probably acceptable. Four days since she had seen Sirius; avoidance was a specialty of the Flanders family. Four days and she had been trying her best to find a solution to her problems, an answer to her issue, but nothing had come to her. She was desperate to hash it all out, to get it out of her head and move forward; if, to accomplish this goal, she had to ask advice from her _mother _of all people, then she would.

_Easier said than done_, Josie thought, _applied quite aptly to this situation_. Still standing in the doorway of the parlor, Josie couldn't quite bring herself to walk into the room. The parlor was to her mother like the office was to her father; it was her realm. It was not a room one simply walked into, especially without an invitation. Every morning, after breakfast, Flossie Flanders would read the society pages of the paper in this room, sipping on tea, and receiving all the visitors that arrived to the residence. It was a room in which Flossie had complete control, the home field advantage. Venturing into this place uninvited was like walking into the den of a pack of unfed lions; you were asking to be eaten alive.

Florence's eyes never moving off of the newspaper in front of her, she reached out and picked up her teacup, elegantly, gracefully, and brought it to her lips to take a sip. While placing the cup back down, she called out to Josie. "Are you going to come in darling, or just hesitate in the doorway forever?" Flushing, Josie took a step forward, but ventured no further. A couple more minutes passed as Flossie read the engagement announcement of Elizabeth Kensington and Michael Moss. Finishing the last sentence with a proud look on her face, Flossie folded the paper in half widthwise, placed it carefully on the table, and looked up. Seeing that Josie had barely entered the room, she rolled her eyes. "Darling, I'm not going to bite. Come sit," she demanded, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of the medium sized round table placed in the middle of the room.

Her lips pursed, Josie slowly, hesitantly sat down across from her mother. Looking at her over the rims of her cat's eye reading glasses, Flossie examined her clearly uncomfortable daughter. "So what brings you out of your room to see me today, darling? I have to say, we've all been a little worried about you." Josie shrugged.

"I'm fine mother."

"Oh I know. Mrs. Pierce has informed us of this statement many many times. She tells us you've been sulking and that you'll get over it eventually, but that still doesn't stop us all from worrying about you." Josie crossed her arms over her chest.

"You haven't been worried about me at all. Don't lie."

"Just because I don't knock on your door every five minutes to make sure you aren't dead, doesn't mean I don't care about you." Josie pursed her lips and in doing so, managed to complete the picture of an angst ridden teenager. Flossie sighed. "Don't be like that Josie. If you're not careful, all that grimacing you do is going to give you wrinkles."

"Because that would be the end of the world," was Josie's acrimonious reply.

"It certainly won't make you more attractive." Flossie remarked,

her hand reaching for her paper once more. "Now what did you want to talk about? Because, as much as I enjoy your company, it's not like you to spend more time outside of your room than is necessary." Josie didn't speak for a moment and Flossie began to unfold her paper, getting on with her routine.

"I need advice," Josie finally settling on a decision to speak. Flossie put the paper down and took off her reading glasses, giving Josie her full attention.

"Advice? What about?" Josie heaved a sigh and looked off to her left, out the window that faced the street. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what the problem is."

"It's just…I'm in a bit of a situation that I can't figure out how to solve."

"You're not pregnant are you?" Flossie asked, her demeanor surprisingly calm. Josie blushed.

"No! Of course not!" Flossie shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened."

"Well, that's not what I came here to ask about. You see, I think I may have…well, I like this guy, you see?" Flossie's face lit up at the news.

"Oh darling, that's wonderful! Who's the lucky boy?"

"It's not Matt, if that's what you're thinking," Josie responded, a nasty edge to her voice.

"If you say so. So this Not-Matt boy, has he asked you out yet?"

"No. I'm not even sure if he likes me back. I mean, I only just realized it myself."

"Ah," Flossie nodded her head sagely. "So I take it you like him a lot?"

"More than I probably should. We don't even know each other that well."

"When was the last time you two talked?" Flossie asked, curiously. Josie flushed and answered quietly.

"Actually, the last time we talked was four days ago. We argued."

"So you overreacted." Flossie stated.

"Mom!" Flossie took another sip of her tea.

"Well, I don't see you denying it, sweetheart."

"Okay, so I overreacted, just a bit. It really doesn't matter. I just…I don't know where to go from here."

"Ask him out." Josie eyes widened.

"What?"

"Ask him out for lunch." Josie continued to stare at her mother in shock. "What? I didn't think my suggestion would get such a reaction, particularly not from you."

"But what if he says no?" Josie asked, her voice filled with insecurity.

"Then he says no. In fact, he's doing you a favor by being up front about the fact that he's a waste of time." Josie didn't respond, but a warm feeling settled into her chest at her mother's advice and she smiled brightly. Her mother either didn't notice or didn't care to comment. Instead, she poured herself another cup of tea and returned to her newspaper, flipping the page from engagements to obituaries.

"Thanks," Josie said a few moments later, getting up and making her way towards the exit. Flossie waved a hand, indicating that she had heard her, but gave no other acknowledgement. As Josie exited the parlor into the foyer she was feeling slightly more confident and a whole lot lighter about her situation. The feeling didn't last long as she walked straight into Sirius a moment later. "Ow!" The impact made her slightly unsteady on her feet and she wobbled, almost falling down. Sirius grabbed a hold of her shoulders, making sure she didn't fall.

"Thanks," Josie mutter, wincing slightly.

"You alright?" Sirius asked her, concerned. She nodded.

"Only thing that's bruised is my ego. Sorry about that. I should have been paying attention to where I was going." She looked down at the floor, feeling distinctly embarrassed. Her face felt warm and she was sure it was the color of a tomato. Sirius shrugged.

"No harm done, Flanders. In fact I was just looking for you." Josie's head snapped up.

"You were? What for?"

"Listen, I have to leave for a bit. I've got a meeting to go to. You all should be safe while I'm gone; I'm going to put wards on the house. But that means you can't leave." Josie forced a laugh at Sirius' level gaze.

"I think I can manage to stay indoors. Although my budding social life will certainly take a hit." That was good, Josie thought. That wasn't flirty or forward, but at the very least, she didn't make a fool out of herself. Sirius nodded.

"Good." He looked like he was about to say something else, but decided against it.

"Oi! Black! Stop flirting and let's go." Josie was sure she had never blushed so much in her life, let alone one day. The man her father had a meeting with the day she arrived home—Mr. Moo-something, Josie couldn't quite remember—had joined them in the parlor. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Mad Eye." Without another word, not even a glance towards Josie, Sirius and his companion disappeared with a loud crack. Josie jumped and stared for a long moment at the place where their two bodies had been before. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Josie decided that she would never get used to this magic thing.

* * *

While Josie may have made a joke about her lack of a social life so far this past summer, it wasn't a false statement. With her friends out of town, her rift with Matt, and her hiding in her room these past four days from embarrassment, confusion, and an assortment of other feelings she hadn't quite named yet, she was feeling more than restless. Part of her longed to ignore Sirius' instructions and just go out for a bit; because, really, just how dangerous was it? There certainly hadn't been any reason for her to worry so far. Frankly, Sirius' presence seemed excessive. She stared out the window, her hand holding back the curtain, watching the coming and goings on the street. It'd be easy, to sneak out. She could go out for a couple hours, sneak back in, and no one would know the difference.

But she didn't. Letting the curtain fall back against the window, Josie wandered around the house, not quite sure what to do with herself. Henry was sitting on the floor of the living room as she walked past, the TV on, the volume loud, and watching some obnoxious cartoon. She watched her little brother for a while, leaning against the door frame. His attention was glued to the television, his sandy hair ruffled and his clothes crumpled, like he had been running around earlier. The vision brought a smile to her face and without anything better to do, Josie entered the room and laid down next to him.

"Hi Henry." He made a noise of acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. Something in the cartoon was funny and made him laugh. Josie wasn't paying any attention to what was on the TV though; her focus was solely on Henry. "Henry, can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Why were you so concerned about me the other week, when I wasn't feeling well?" The little boy shrugged.

"I didn't want you to go to the hospital."

"But why, Henry? You know that sick people go to the hospital to get better, right?"

"Not always." Henry responded with a whisper.

"What makes you say that?"

"Sarah Morton."

"Sarah Morton?"

"Uh-huh. Sarah's my friend from school. Her mom got sick earlier this year and had to go to the hospital. She died though."

"When was this?" Josie asked, concerned. She hadn't heard anything about this—surely her mother would have mentioned something.

"March. Sarah didn't come back to school for a month. And when she did, she was really sad and didn't want to play or anything." Josie reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well, buddy, I'm not going anywhere. Even if I'm sick, even if I go to the hospital, you're gonna be stuck with me for a long time."

"Okay," Henry said, "Can I go back to watching TV now?" Josie giggled.

"Yes yes, go ahead. Clearly cartoons are more important than your older sister." She joked, but Henry had already turned back to the screen. Watching Henry, Josie lowered her head onto the floor, her hands providing a slight pillow.

It wasn't until hours later, when she woke up, still on the floor, with her brother curled up next to her, that she realized that she had fallen asleep.

* * *

A/N: So it's short. And not that good. I'm so sorry. But the good news is that things should start to pick up a bit from here. Sorry for the filler, but it was necessary. I did my best you guys, and all things considered, it's a miracle I was able to get this to the point where I think it's okay.

See you all in 2011! I'm off to Russia in a week and will not be updating until after the new year. I hope you all understand.

NaP


	9. London Calling

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 8-London Calling

**June 14, 1981**

Josephine Flanders had to be the absolute most confusing girl that Sirius had ever met. One minute she was angry at the world, at him, the next she waltzed into his room and awkwardly asked him if he wanted to go to London with her. Sirius had said yes immediately, and not just because it was his job. Days of not having any interaction with Josie had left him like a man lost in the desert; thirsty for whatever he could get. Her moods, hot one minute, cold the next, normally would have put him off her entirely. In a time like this, Sirius had no time to play games with an immature muggle girl, but he couldn't help himself. He told himself that it wasn't that he wanted a relationship with her; he just wanted the chase, the challenge. And Josie certainly wasn't making it easy.

At Hogwarts, if he had wanted a girlfriend, he never had to look very far. There were plenty of girls who were interested in him, and while none of them interested him very much, they were good to keep around for a couple months, for a snog here and there, whenever the fancy struck him. Not that it struck him often, mind you. In his seven years at Hogwarts, he had had perhaps three girlfriends, each lasting about three or four months. When their relationship came crashing down around him because of his lack of communication or motivation to put any effort whatsoever into the relationship, he would always wind up lying in his bed at night, swearing off birds for good. It wasn't that he was particularly hurt by their accusations; in fact, he would agree with them. But it was all too much trouble, to be honest. And Sirius wasn't cruel; as much as, by the end of the relationship, the girlfriend annoyed him, he didn't want to see the girl crying and heartbroken.

No, Sirius knew he was no good. No matter how much the next girl thought she could change him, she wouldn't. He hadn't had a proper relationship in a few years, not since the end of the Hogwarts. He hadn't wanted one. Sure he would go off with a girl he had met in a bar on occasion, but that was it. He didn't need to be attached to anyone, especially not in a war like this where you could be alive one day and dead the next. He didn't want to put anyone through that, the pain of losing a lover. It seemed selfish to him. So after he had graduated, joined up with the aurors and with the Order, he told himself that he wouldn't get truly involved with a girl.

But somehow, Josie had managed to make him rethink his priorities. He didn't know what it was about her, but somehow, this indecisive, naïve, immature, almost eighteen year old girl made him want to throw all of his principles out the window and just kiss her. Not that he would actually do that; he was pretty sure she was involved with that Matt kid, however much she protested the contrary. They may be fighting right now, but they'd patch things up eventually. And, considering her behavior, it didn't appear that she was interested in him in the least. He wasn't going to push the issue. Yes, he wanted her, but Josie was a nice enough girl. She didn't deserve to be saddled with his baggage when she had barely begun to live her own life.

Tomorrow, they would go into muggle London. It wouldn't be the first time that Sirius had ventured out into the other world, but it would be his first time with a muggle. The other times that he had gone had either been by himself or with a group of magical friends. He wondered if, suddenly, with a guide, the muggle world would make sense. But the chances of that actually happening were very slim. In fact, he was almost one hundred percent certain that the day would only make things more complicated.

If only he knew that it wasn't going to be the type of complications he'd thought they'd be.

* * *

Awkward was perhaps the only word that Josie could come up with to describe her outing with Sirius in London. They barely talked and when they did, it was stilted and forced. She missed the way things had been not even a week ago, when they were able to talk for hours and never get bored. But as they walked the streets of London, Sirius walking just close enough to her so that people would know that they were together, but far enough away so that they didn't touch, there were no words to be said. Sirius' eyes were on the people around them, performing his duty as he assessed their threat to her. Josie, for the most part, kept her eyes on the pavement in front of her. It was awful. She hadn't felt so uncomfortable in her entire life. Sirius didn't seem to be affected by it at all, which annoyed her more than she'd like to admit.

She wanted him to be affected. She wanted him to be uncomfortable too. If he acknowledged the tension between them, then perhaps that might be a sign that he too felt something for her. At least, felt enough for her that the awkwardness between them was cause for concern. But no, they walked along in silence, aimlessly, and Josie had no idea how to change the mood without revealing that she'd like to jump his bones. Because if she expressed concern over the state of their "relationship" at this point in time, when Sirius, himself, was completely unconcerned (and apparently not feeling the awkward tension _at all_), then she might as well just come out and say that she was in love with him.

Not that she was in _love_ with him. It was a bit premature for that.

"You hungry?" Sirius asked her suddenly. She jumped slightly at being addressed for the first time in nearly an hour.

"Yeah, a bit. I could do with a sit down. We've been walking around a long time."

"There's a café up there, if you want."

"I mean, only if you want to. If you're not hungry, then we can keep walking. I can last. Besides, I had a big breakfast. Mrs. Pierce made sure of it. And there's so much more we haven't seen. We should take advantage of the fact that it's not raining or anything right now. Because it will. Start raining I mean. Because this is London and that's just what the weather does. But you know this, 'cause you live here too and all—"

"Josie!" She immediately snapped her mouth shut. Sirius smirked, amused. "You're babbling."

"Well, yeah. Sorry about that."

"C'mon, let's go get a sandwich. At the very least, if you start to babble again, you can stuff your mouth with food to stop yourself." Josie blushed slightly, but a small smile made its way over her face.

"Okay, let's go." And taking a daring move, Josie clasped Sirius' hand in hers and moved towards the café. She couldn't have been more pleased when, instead of pulling away, he gave her hand a small squeeze.

* * *

"So the last person in the magical world famous for their music is this Celestina Warbeck character? " Josie asked. Lunch had gone surprisingly well; the tension around them had eased. Now, Josie had dragged Sirius into the music store and was lazily looking through records, while Sirius told her about the poor state of magical music.

"She's awful, I'm telling you. Her backup singers are literal banshees."

"But there's been no one since her?" Came Josie's amazed need for clarification. Sirius shrugged.

"Not really. The Hobgoblins were only just starting to gain some fame before You-know-who came along. Now there are more important things to worry about than music."

"Fair enough, I suppose. So, I know you hate Celestina Warbeck, but how about these Hobgoblin characters? Any good?"

"They're okay. I haven't listened to them that much, to be honest."

"I really can't imagine how you all get on without music," Josie commented. "And how you've all gotten on in life without bands like The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Queen, David Bowie."

"What's so great about them?" Josie stared at Sirius in shock.

"_What's so great about them?_ Dear lord, this is worse than I thought. When we get home, we're going to have a crash course in music. You cannot go on with your life without listening to these bands."

"I've done pretty good up until now," Sirius commented, amused.

"Oh whatever you've done before now isn't living." Josie turned back to the records, flipping through a new pile. "Ah ha! There you are," she picked up and brandished the record she was looking for."C'mon, I gotta go pay for this." Sirius followed obediently as she walked up the cash register.

The girl behind the cash register was a blonde, whose hair was pulled back into a high pony tail, held together with a bright pink scrunchie. Beyond that, Sirius could not describe the girl because her face was covered by a brightly colored magazine with a group of far too well groomed looking teenage boys on it. The sound of gum being popped reached his ears and Sirius winced. Josie wasn't phased in the slightest. She placed the record on the counter and the cashier brought down her magazine, dogearing the page that she was reading and got to her job.

"Just this?" Josie nodded.

"Yeah that'll be it." At the sound of her voice, the girl behind the counter's head snapped up.

"Josie? Is that you?" She popped her gum one more time.

"Oh my gosh! Donna!" The two girls screamed at the unexpected reunion and Sirius winced once more. He was sure dogs in three counties had lifted their ears in response to their squealing. "What are you doing home? I thought you went to the South of France with your family." Donna rolled her eyes.

"No, the parentals changed the plans last minute. Thought it might be good for me to go out and get some 'real world experience'. Because, like, working in a record store is going to strengthen my character or something. I totally forgot that you were around too, or else I would have given you a call. We should totally, like, hang out sometime soon. I've missed having friend time. I've been doing nothing but working at this bleedin' store for the past few weeks."

"Yeah, I've just been holed up at home for the most part."

"Are you, like, grounded for the whole thing that happened at the end of the year?" Donna asked, her voice laced with sympathy.

"No, actually. But well, I thought you were all away, so my only contact with the outside world is Matt, but we're fighting right now."

"God, our social lives are, like, so pathetic. Who's the dish, by the way?" She asked, nodding towards Sirius, who up until this point had managed to stay out of the conversation.

"Oh, uh, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is my friend Donna, from school." Donna sized him up shamelessly.

"Sirius, huh? No wonder you and Matt are fighting. I totally understand that. He's _fine_." Sirius felt distinctly uncomfortable about where this conversation was going.

"Uh, you guys know I'm standing right here. I can hear everything you're saying," He finally spoke up.

"Oooo, even his voice is dishy. Good job, Josie." Josie flushed.

"It's not like that. He's um, my new bodyguard."

"Oh that's so romantic!"

"Only not," Sirius added, "because there's nothing romantic going on between Josie and myself." At these words Josie felt her heart sink.

"Yeah," she agreed halfheartedly. "Listen, we need to get going, so if I could just pay…"

"Oh don't worry about it," Donna said, "I've got you covered, girlie. You go on ahead and enjoy your time with Mr. Dishy Bodyguard here." Josie half wondered if it was possible for a hole to just open up in the ground for her to fall through. Perhaps the witches and wizards had a spell for when they would like to drop off the face of the Earth when they were embarrassed.

"Uh thanks. Call me?"

"For sure!" Not wasting another minute, Sirius and Josie left the shop and began to walk down the street.

"Interesting friend you've got there," Sirius remarked when they were a far enough distance away. Josie groaned.

"She's usually not that bad. She can be a bit of an airhead, obviously, but she usually turns on the filter between her thoughts and her mouth." Sirius laughed.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, it isn't so bad being referred to as Mr. Dishy Bodyguard." Josie closed her eyes in her mortification.

"Ugh, don't remind me. For the record, I would never call you that."

"What, you don't think I'm dishy?" Sirius teased. Josie flushed again.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, yeah, you're dishy—speaking purely objectively here—but I'd never actually come out and say it to your face like that."

"You think I'm dishy," Sirius teased. "I knew that eventually you'd fall victim to my rugged good looks."

"No! I don't—I mean, it's just—"Sirius broke off her broken rambling with a loud laugh.

"Josie, love, I'm just teasing." She sighed.

"Whatever, Sirius." She responded, sulkily.

"Oh Josie, don't be like that."

"Like what?" Sirius' reply was covered by the loudest crash Josie had ever heard. They both turned around at the sound. The color drained from Sirius' face as the street was swarmed with people in black robes and masks. The Death Eaters were attacking.

* * *

A/N: Shhhh. We're just going to forget I was ever here. Still on hiatus. Still in Russia.

In other news, saw Deathly Hollows today…in Russian. There isn't a single movie theater in this city playing it with subtitles instead of dubbing. Sadness. Regardless, I thought it was good. Thought it would be a good idea to celebrate by posting this chapter.

Review?


	10. Fear City

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 9-Fear City

_Don't move. Hide. I'll come get you when it's all done_. And then he had left Josie in the alley, to crouch behind the dumpster, her entire body shaking with fear.

_What's going on?_ She couldn't get a straight answer out of him. _Just stay here. Everything will be alright. I promise_ he had said, and then took off, his wand in his hand. Screams echoed through the air, poor, innocent people being tortured by these…these…monsters.

Her breath came in short bursts as she fought the urge to cry. Crying wouldn't help. Crying was a loud activity. But this was scary and all she wanted to do was run away and cry. So far, no one had ventured down this alley. She was safe. The screaming was getting closer, the sounds of breaking glass echoing on the walls, flashing, different colored lights, reflected off the wall. She squeezed herself behind the dumpster as far as she could go, although her feet still stuck out a bit. It would have to do. _Stay here_. _Don't move_. She repeated the mantra in her head, trying to calm herself down.

How long she had been hiding in this alley, she didn't know. Time seemed to have slowed down and sped up all at once. On one hand, it felt like forever since she had crouched down behind the dark blue dumpster that smelled like rotten Chinese food. But the rate at which the bad guys—she couldn't for the life of her remember what they were called. It didn't matter much, either—approached was far too quick.

Wasn't magic supposed to be all powerful? Why couldn't the good guys just wave their wands and make everything okay? Why did the bad guys have to have magic too? Only now did she finally begin to understand the life that these people had been living. She wasn't quite sure how they did it. There was another loud crash—this one sounding like part of a building falling to the street—and Josie closed her eyes tight and wished for it all to be over with.

_Don't move. Stay here._ Her lips moved to the words, but no sound came out. _Don't move. Stay here. _ The sound of footsteps in the alley made her entire body freeze. She held her breath as the boots stomped down the alley. She couldn't tell if it was a good guy or a bad guy, but she knew, most definitely, that it was not Sirius. The footsteps were too heavy and the shoes easily not the worn trainers that she had watched him put on this morning.

"The alley's clear. There's no one here." The voice was too deep. It was frightening. "Let's get out of here." The footsteps moved away and Josie breathed a sigh of relief. "What was that?" Had they heard her sigh? Had she accidentally moved the dumpster? She kept her eyes closed—perhaps, if she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her. It was childish and stupid, but she had no other option. She was trapped. She had stayed, just like Sirius had said, and now she had no other options. Maybe they wouldn't see her. Once more, Josie moved, trying to make herself as compact as possible. The person in the alley definitely noticed the movement. The footsteps quickly moved back her way and Josie knew right then and there that she was done for. The jig was up.

_Don't move. Stay here._

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

"What is it, Dolohov?" a new voice that Josie hadn't heard before. It was a woman's and it scared her more than the man's. She sounded unhinged.

"Well, it seems to be a scared, little, muggle girl, LeStrange." And suddenly, she was upside down in the air. Her eyes snapped open and she stared wildly at the two people holding her captive. They were dressed the same, in black robes. The man had a silver mask over his face, but the woman had removed hers. The woman's eyes were crazed, excited at having a victim to torture. The man was stoic, and he appeared to be the one levitating her, if the fact that he had his wand pointed towards her was any indication. Josie didn't move, terror keeping her in place. _Stay here. Don't move. _

"Are you frightened?" The woman asked. Josie was compelled to answer her; she nodded. "That's good. You muggles should be frightened. That's the only smart thing you stupid creatures have ever done." Josie whimpered.

"Already whimpering? I haven't even done anything to you yet."

"Please," Josie whispered, her throat far too dry with fear to say more.

"Please she says, Dolohov. Should we do as she says and please her?" Dolohov ignored her.

"She looks familiar, doesn't she, Lestrange?" The woman peered at her, eyes squinted, examining her features closely.

"I believe she does. What luck! It looks like we have the ickle little daughter of the Prime Minister."

"Ah, I thought I recognized that face." Lestrange's smile widened; it sickened Josie.

"Well, I think I'm going to enjoy this even more now." In the next instant, the woman whipped out her wand, "_Crucio_."

Josie's screams echoed in the alleyway.

* * *

In theory, Sirius concluded, anti-disapparition jinxes were a good thing. They kept out people you didn't want to enter your home. But the problem with anti-disapparition jinxes was when the people you didn't want entering your home got a hold of them. Conceivably, he could have just disapparated from the street, got Josie home safe and sound, then gone back to help. In fact, that was his first instinct. And then the damn anti-disapparition jinx came into play. He couldn't leave. He gathered that the death eaters put it up to prevent the aurors from crashing in and ruining their fun. And it was this charm that was probably taking them so long to get here. Sirius had no idea where the boundary for the jinx began or ended, and likely, the aurors were having problems locating this line too. He had sent out his patronus, sounding the alarm a long time ago. Now he was just waiting. He was firing off spells as quick as he could shoot, but he was clearly out numbered. He was surprised he didn't have more damage done to his person at this point. He had a cut down his face, and while there was a lot of blood, the damage was minimal. He had taken a fall a little while back and maybe his ribs were cracked. But all in all, it was nothing a trip to a mediwitch couldn't fix. He'd be right as rain if he could survive to the end of this.

And suddenly, the death eaters began to vanish. More flashes of light flashed through the air, although this time they weren't directed at Sirius. In fact, they were going the opposite way. The aurors had arrived and with them, the anti-apparition jinx was lifted. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief when he set eyes on Mad Eye Moody and a team of aurors standing strong behind him.

"Black," Moody acknowledged.

"Think you can handle things here, Mad Eye?" Sirius asked, shooting off another couple of spells at the small amount of Death Eaters that were sticking around, still fighting. The tables had turned and now they were outnumbered. Sirius wouldn't have put it past Mad Eye to cast another anti-apparition jinx, which meant that they couldn't leave. "Flanders is hiding out and I need to get her out of here."

"Go," Moody dismissed Sirius, as the rest of the aurors did their job and took down a couple more Death Eaters. Sirius didn't need to be told twice. He took off running, looking left and right for some sign of the alley that he had left Josie in. The landscape was so changed by the attack that Sirius was having a hard time orienting himself. And then he heard it—the scream that chilled him to his very core. He pushed himself farther, running faster, trying to get to Josie as quick as possible. What had happened to her? She was supposed to be okay! She _promised_ him that she'd stay put and hide, but that didn't explain why her screams were still echoing around him, ringing in his head.

In no time at all, he located the alley where he and Josie had parted. He paused momentarily to take in the scene—his cousin and a still masked Death Eater standing there, wands out, Josie in the air, barely conscious. He saw red.

"_Expelliarmus_," he hissed, but his spell missed. Bellatrix moved her attention from Josie to him.

"Well if it isn't my dear cousin."

"You're no cousin of mine, Bellatrix. I wouldn't claim relation to you if it would save my life. _Stupify!_" He yelled out, but Bellatrix easily dodged the spell. As much as Sirius hated to admit it, Bellatrix was a good dueler and was actually very clever when it came to battle.

Without a word, Josie flew through the air until she was in Bellatrix's arms. Immediately, the witch pointed her wand at her throat. Josie was conscious, but clearly not registering what was going on around her; she didn't struggle or fight back at all.

"Back off, or she's dead." Sirius glared.

"Drop her, or you're dead." He responded, his wand still raised. The two stared at each other, their eyes locked, daring the other to make the first move. And then, without warning, Bellatrix moved, pointing her wand at the building to her left. She pushed Josie forward, towards Sirius. She stumbled, barely able to stand on her own two feet. And then the explosion came. Brick came tumbling down from above, made to land right on top of her. Sirius ran forward, tackling Josie to the ground and moving her just out of the way. The rubble crashed to the ground and when the noise stopped, Sirius looked up. Bellatrix and her companion were gone. He breathed a sigh of relief before quickly turning to Josie. "Josie, Josie, wake up, love," he pleaded, worry taking over his body. She moaned in response, her eyes fluttering open slightly before closing again. She was still breathing, Sirius told himself. She wasn't dead. But it was clear that she needed immediate medical attention.

St. Mungo's was his first thought, but he quickly tossed out that idea. While it was true that on occasions like this, St. Mungo's took in muggles, there was no way Sirius was going to let Josie out of his sight. He calmed himself down—he needed to—and thought of the happiest memory he had. "_Expecto Patronum_," he murmured, sending off a message to Marlene McKinnon to meet him at 10 Downing Street.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Josie awoke, gasping for breath like she was emerging from the depths of the ocean, and a scream in her throat that never quite made it out. She was shaking, although she didn't know why; the room was, if anything, stiflingly warm. It was the middle of summer after all. She tried to stop the shaking, to calm herself down, but it didn't work. She was in her room, (she could figure that out at least) but how she had gotten here, she didn't know.

Her musings were put to an end as the door opened, flooding the room with the hall light. The woman at the door paused, seeing Josie sitting up.

"Oh good, you're awake," she whispered, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She approached the bed, and withdrew her wand from her pocket. Josie stiffened and seeing this, the woman paused. "Oh, right, didn't think of that. It makes sense though, your being wary of wands and magic and our sort of things. Anyways, I'm here to help. I'm a friend of Sirius'—Marlene. I fixed you up. Now that you're awake, I need to see if there are any lasting side effects from the spells, is that okay?" Josie nodded and Marlene walked forward.

"What," Josie croaked out before clearing her throat. "What kind of side effects are you looking for?" She asked. Marlene held up a finger to her lips, indicating that she be quiet.

"I just got that one over there to get some rest," she spoke quietly while Josie turned toward where she pointed. Sirius was asleep in a chair pulled right up next to her bed. "If he didn't, I was going to force a sleeping potion down his throat."

"Well I guess you'll just have to do that," Sirius said sleepily, his eyes still closed. "I'm awake now." Marlene sighed.

"I'll deal with you later Sirius. First order of business is checking up on Ms. Flanders here." Marlene pulled out her wand and began her examination. After a few minutes she stopped. "Well, you seem to be alright." Sirius sighed in relief.

"Thank Merlin."

"Sirius, keep an eye on her for the next few days. If there's any change at all in her condition, drop me a line, yeah? I'll come right over. It was nice to meet you, Josie Flanders," Marlene commented as she began to move out of the room, "I just wish the circumstances were better."

"Me too," Josie responded, mustering a small smile. The door clicked shut behind her and Josie turned to Sirius, who was still sitting at the side of her bed. The image of him, staring so concernedly at her, was what caused her to break. The tears began and they soon developed into full out sobs. She felt the bed dip with the weight of another person and the next thing she knew, Sirius had wrapped his arms around her and was holding her to his chest, rubbing her back in comforting circles as she cried. He didn't say anything—what could he say that would make any difference?

"You promised me. You _promised_ me. You said everything would be fine if I just stayed put and didn't move."

"I know," Sirius responded. The guilt that he had been carrying around since that afternoon seemed to weigh more on him now. He wasn't just blaming himself—clearly Josie blamed him too.

"It wasn't alright. You _promised_," Josie continued to ramble, still sobbing into Sirius' chest.

"I know, I know," was all he could say back. Things weren't alright. And it was all his fault.

* * *

A/N: Just squeezing this in before school starts again, at the request of Solitaireclay07 (who is awesome. You should all read her stuff and leave her reviews because they would make her happy). Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. It gave me more trouble than I thought it would. First time writing any thing of the sort. Hope it's not that awful. Next chapter is one I've been looking forward to for a long time now. In fact, when this one was giving me trouble, I worked on that one instead haha. I can't tell you when it'll be up, but it'll be March at the latest.

Feel free to review and let me know what you think. Until next time,

NaP


	11. New Disaster

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 10- New Disaster

**June 18, 1981**

In the days following the attack, Josie was withdrawn. She spent most of her time in her room and when she could finally be persuaded to leave, she would spend her time in the kitchens with Mrs. Pierce. While this wasn't entirely unusual, ever since Sirius came to ten Downing Street, Josie had certainly been livelier. In the aftermath of their unfortunate trip to London, Josie seemed to be avoiding Sirius at all costs. But Sirius hadn't noticed, as he was doing the exact same thing to her. He spent most of his time out of the house, off at secret meetings, so that the two of them didn't cross paths. Not that Josie really noticed. But Mrs. Pierce did. And so did Mr. and Mrs. Flanders. Josie's parents, while not always the most observant when it came to their daughter did notice the lack of interaction between the two young people in the house. Each of them had their own idea as to why they were acting this way, but neither of them ever voiced their opinions, not even to each other.

And so it happened that Josie found herself with nothing to do but watch Mrs. Pierce make a pie in the kitchen. She didn't offer to help and she certainly didn't say anything. Josie knew better than to bother Mrs. Pierce while she was baking. Mrs. Pierce all but ignored Josie's presence, humming to herself as she rolled out the pastry dough between two pieces of parchment paper. The phone rang and Josie jumped at the sound. Ever since the attack, even the smallest of unexpected noises startled her. Mrs. Pierce wiped her hands on her apron and walked to the phone.

"Hello?" She answered it. Her face immediately became pensive as the person on the other line responded. Her eyes flicked over to Josie, studying her closely as she listened. "Just a moment, Matthew." She dragged the phone across the room, the curly phone cord stretching out to its furthest reaches. Meanwhile, Josie had begun shaking her head back and forth and waving her hands wildly.

"_No_," she hissed. Mrs. Pierce ignored her. Unceremoniously, she plopped the phone in Josie's lap. Josie had to scramble to grab it before it flew back across the room and the phone broke.

"Hello?" Josie heard from the phone.

"_Shit_," she swore and glared at Mrs. Pierce. The woman had already gone back to rolling the pie crust.

"This argument between you and Matthew has gone on far too long, I'm afraid. It's time to make up now," Mrs. Pierce informed her matter-of-factly. "And watch your language." Pursing her lips, Josie carefully lifted the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" She started, getting up off her chair and dragging the phone out into the hallway. If Mrs. Pierce was going to make her talk to Matt, then she wasn't going to give the woman the satisfaction of overhearing her conversation.

"Josie?"

"Yeah Mattie, what's up?" There was a pause before Matt responded.

"You're not going to hang up on me?" Josie sighed.

"Well, only if you want me to."

"No, no, not at all." He sounded relieved and a twinge of guilt struck Josie right in the stomach. She leaned back against the wall, twirling her finger in the phone cord. "Listen, I need to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Not on the phone. This is something that needs to be said in person."

"Well, come over then. I've got nothing else to do, really. Just ask Mrs. Pierce; I'm sure she'll be happy to get rid of me for a couple of hours."

"I—I don't want to be overheard. Meet me tonight? I'll drop by at the usual time."

"Matt—" Josie began to turn him down.

"Please, Josie. It's important."

"Can't you just…Matt I can't meet you tonight," she said, her tone desperate.

"You have to Josie! I _need_ to talk to you."

"I'm just…I'm not supposed to go out."

"I thought you said you weren't grounded." Matt stated, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"I'm not."

"Then what's the problem?" Matt exclaimed, frustrated. "Look, I get it, I screwed up at the party a couple weeks ago, but I'm sorry, okay?"

"Matt, it's not about that," Josie tried to reason with him.

"From my end of things it looks like it is. Look, if you forgive me, then meet me tonight." There was a soft click as he hung up followed directly by a dial tone. Josie slowly walked into the kitchen and hung up the phone. Mrs. Pierce looked at her questioningly, clearly wondering if the two teenagers had finally made up. Josie didn't pay any attention to her, far too lost in thought. She wandered out of the kitchen and up to her room. Flopping down on the bed, she stared up at the ceiling and frowned.

* * *

"Boo!" Josie screamed and jumped from her position on her bed, falling to the floor. She stared wide eyed at her doorway where Marlene McKinnon was now standing, her eyes just as wide as Josie's and her hand over her mouth in disbelief. It took all of a second before the girl dissolved into giggles. "Oh Merlin," she said between her laughter, "you should see the look on your face." It wasn't long until Josie was laughing herself.

Minutes later, tears streaming down their red faces, the two girls finally calmed down enough to talk to each other. The last time Josie had seen Marlene, it had been dark; this was the first time she was able to get a really good look at her. She had blonde wavy hair, cut short in a bob, and mossy green eyes. She wasn't tall, perhaps a couple inches shorter than Josie herself, but her presence filled the room. There was a small smile still left on her face after the giggle fest before. Josie thought she was beautiful. She was wearing lime green robes over a pressed white button down shirt and a black pencil skirt. Josie wondered about the uniform, but didn't ask about it, not in the mood to find the answer to her query. As Josie pondered this, Marlene entered the room and sat down next to Josie on the floor. "How've you been?" Josie shrugged.

"I'm fine." Marlene fixed her with a look that made her feel small and vulnerable. Josie winced and corrected herself. "I'm getting by."

"Any physical side effects?" The woman asked, her no nonsense tone of voice putting Josie on edge.

"No. Why are you here anyways? Did Sirius send you?" Marlene sighed.

"In a way. That stupid berk hasn't been answering any of my owls. I was concerned, so I thought I'd come and check out the situation myself. Turns out, the idiot isn't here."

"So you're checking up with me because…?" Josie trailed off, confused. Marlene shrugged.

"Just thought I'd say hi, see how you were doing. You were part of the reason I was worried. Most of my letters were about you and how you were doing, so you can understand, not getting any back, I was worried that something awful had happened to you."

"But…why do you care?"

"You're my patient," Marlene said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And Sirius cares about you. Ergo, I care about you. So, c'mon now, tell me everything that's been going on." Josie blinked up at Marlene, baffled. Marlene smiled welcomingly, trustingly at her and before Josie could second guess it, she blurted it all out.

"I have nightmares. Bad ones. And I'm jumpy, but you already knew that. And I'm scared that Sirius is angry with me, for making his job harder." Marlene reached around Josie, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder and pulling Josie close and comforting her.

"That's to be expected. It will all fade eventually. But I thought that might be the case." She reached into the pocket of her robes and took out a vial filled with a purple liquid.

"What's that?"

"It's a sleeping potion. Should help with your nightmares." Marlene passed it over to her. "It's just one dose. You should drink all of it before bed. If you are still having problems, have Sirius owl me next week and I'll give you some more. It can be very addictive to magical people, so I'm hesitant to give you more than a little bit at a time. Who knows what it'll do to a muggle." Josie stared at it, curiously, turning it in her hands, watching the purple liquid swish back and forth.

"What's it made of?" Marlene laughed.

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing. And it's going to taste horrible, but there's not much I can do about that." Josie uncorked the top and took a sniff, her face scrunching up in disgust at the smell.

"Ew."

"Succinctly put, my friend. It's more than a little gross. I remember brewing my first sleeping potion, in class at Hogwarts. Sirius was my partner and let me tell you, he's pretty hopeless at potions. Not even I could help him. He managed to add the wrong ingredient and our cauldron exploded. I wound up smelling like sleeping potion for three days. Nothing I did could get the smell out." Marlene smiled wistfully at this memory. "That seems so long ago, you know? A whole 'nother era."

"Sirius gets the same look on his face when he talks about his time at school," Josie mentioned off handedly. Marlene's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Is that so?" Josie nodded. Exhaling, Marlene began to stand up. "Well, on that note, I think I should probably let you get back to your pondering."

"Marlene?" Josie asked, hesitantly. Marlene cocked her head to the side, gesturing her to continue. "If you had to do something you knew wasn't a good idea, that it could get you in a lot of trouble, but if you didn't, it would hurt your best friend and make your already fragile friendship irreparable, and even though this thing probably isn't going to help your relationship at all, in fact, it might end it all together, worse than if you didn't do what it was you were supposed to do, would you still do it?" Quickly, Josie glanced up at Marlene, whose face was the picture of confusion.

"You're going to have to repeat that. Slower. And with a little more details."

"It's just, well, my friend Matt and I have been fighting. And well, we talked a bit today, on the telephone, but he said he needed to talk to me in person. The problem is, he doesn't want to be overheard, he wants me to sneak out and meet up with him tonight. But well, I can't sneak out. It's a bad idea, you understand? Not to mention, I'm scared out of my wits about the whole thing. But if I don't go, he'll think I don't forgive him. But I do. It's all so stupid now, after I almost…" Josie trailed off, unable to say the word, unable to face just how close she had come to death that day. "Anyways, I think I know what he wants to say, and it's probably going to end in another argument."

"Well, what's more important to you? Your friendship with Matt or getting into trouble?"

"Matt. Definitely Matt. He's my _best friend_." Josie responded without hesitating.

"Then you have your answer right there, don't you?"

* * *

Eleven o'clock rolled around and Josie was tensely staring out the window for Matt to show. He was late. Usually he showed up much earlier. She had already smoked the rest of the pack of cigarettes she had bought at the beginning of the summer, flicking the butts out of the window with irritation every time she had finished. The house was quiet, the street was quiet, the world was quiet. Josie hated it. In the silence there was a foreboding stillness that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end. She had gone back and forth, even after her talk with Marlene, about what she would do tonight. She had decided she would go out, talk to him briefly in an attempt to convince him to come back the next day. It was a compromise. She couldn't ignore him completely, but at the very least, she could try and persuade him to come to her in the daylight, when everything was a little less scary, when she was safe and secure inside her home.

She saw the headlights of his car first, the light illuminating the street below. The car came into focus a moment later and Josie stared down at it apprehensively from her window. The engine shut off and the lights went with it. When her eyes adjusted to the dark once more, she could see Matt peering up at her from the driver's seat of the car. She nodded at him, then disappeared from the window, making her way down to the front door and out onto the street.

She came to a halt at the bottom of the porch stairs. Matt had gotten out of the car and was leaning against it, a bouquet of flowers in his hand that Josie had a suspicion were for her.

"Mattie, I can't be out here," Josie whispered, not taking another step closer. Matt straightened up and laughed softly, hollowly.

"So concerned about rules now, after everything, Josie?" Josie shrugged, not moving any closer. Matt closed the distance between them, so he was standing right in front of her, close enough for Josie to smell his cologne.

"I shouldn't be out here. I need to be back inside. So can you come around tomorrow and we'll talk?" She pleaded, taking a step backwards, toward the door. To be honest, the dark scared her more than she'd like to admit. She just wanted to be back inside.

"No, I need to talk to you now." He thrust the flowers at her. "Here, these are for you." Josie sighed, but grudgingly accepted them. She knew that the conversation was not going to go well. She had an idea about what Matt wanted to talk about, and quite frankly, Josie would have liked to avoid the subject entirely.

"Matt, seriously, this can wait until tomorrow."

"No it needs to be now, before I lose my nerve."

"Oh God. Matt, please don't say what I think you're going to say," Josie begged.

"Josie, listen, I just…I mean…oh man, I had the whole thing rehearsed and everything, but I've forgotten every word."

"Listen, you go home and remember what you wanted to say, and I'll go back inside and we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"No! It's not okay! What's with you, Josie? Why are you so concerned about talking with me on the sidewalk?" Josie flinched as his voice raised.

"Matt, don't cause a scene. I just…I shouldn't be out alone, especially not at night, is all."

"You're not alone, I'm here."

"Yes, but you're not—" Josie stopped herself, not wanting to get into the particulars. Matt didn't know about magic and it had to stay that way.

"I'm not _what_?" He asked, more insistently. "If you just stopped resisting, then maybe I could finally get the words out! You're ruining everything." At this, Josie's anxious face turned hard and a spark of anger glinted dangerously in her eyes. _She_ was ruining _everything_?

"Perhaps, Matt, it's best if you _don't_ say those words. Because if you do, I think it'll be _you_ who is ruining everything. I'm going back inside now." Josie turned on her heel and took another step back towards the door. Matt grabbed hold of her arm, preventing her from moving on. "What, Matt?" She snapped, wrenching her arm out of his grasp, and crossing them over her chest.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Please, just…stay. Just for a couple of minutes more."

"What for? Matt, I'm telling you, this isn't going to—" But he cut her off by kissing her. Josie pushed him away. He stumbled slight, but as soon as he steadied, she whacked him in the chest with the flowers. "What the hell was that?"

"Christ, Josie, I'm trying to tell you I'm in love with you!"

"And as lovely as that sentiment is, Mr. Reynolds, I'm afraid I need to put a stop to this meeting," Sirius' voice cut through the air like a knife. Josie turned toward it instantly. Sirius was leaning against a streetlamp off to the left, his face impassive, but his eyes were flashing dangerously. He was clearly angry.

"Who the hell are you?" Matt asked. Sirius didn't dignify him with an answer, his attention now solely on Josie.

"What are you doing, Josie?"

"Sirius, it's not what it looks like. I promise. I tried to tell him that I couldn't come out, but he insisted! I had no choice!" She walked down the steps, closer to him. Sirius pushed off of the streetlamp and met her half way.

"You always have a choice. Merlin, what the hell is wrong with you? Not a week ago, you were attacked! One would think that perhaps you might finally get that this isn't a silly, little game! You're in serious danger! And yet, you still wander outside, unaccompanied, in the middle of the night. Do you have a death wish or something? Because, quite frankly, I can't understand why you're out here." His voice rose gradually and the louder it got, the smaller Josie felt.

"You were attacked, Josie? What's going on?" Matt interjected, but Josie waved him off. Now was not the time to catch Matt up with the goings on of her life.

"He's my best friend, Sirius, I couldn't just let him sit out here, thinking I'm still mad at him and don't want to talk to him." She reached out and touched Sirius on the arm, trying to calm him down, trying to make him understand but he swatted her away. She withdrew, her face akin to a puppy that has just been whacked on the nose with a newspaper.

"Yes. You. Can. Grow up, Josie! This isn't some petty fight that can be solved with an 'I'm sorry' and a hug, we're talking about people who want to see your blood spilled and they have the power to do it!" Josie had never seen anyone this angry before and it unsettled her that she was the cause of it all.

"Sirius—"

"No, we're done talking about this. Go inside, stay out here, I don't care. I'm done. You want to go and get yourself killed, go right ahead. I'm through." And without another word, Sirius turned around and began to walk down the street.

"Sirius!" Josie called, but she didn't run after him. She knew it wouldn't make a difference. When he was no longer in sight, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, frustrated. "You should go now," she told Matt, turning back to him.

"Josie, what's going on?"

"I can't talk about it, Matt."

"Bull shit! You're choosing to not talk about it. God, what the hell am I even doing here? I make a fool out of myself, hoping for once to get anything out of you, and you completely ignore me and my feelings, like always," he yelled.

"I'm not ignoring your feelings, Matthew, I'm not returning them. There's a difference," she snapped back.

"You're not _returning_ them? What does that even mean?"

"It means," she explained slowly, her patience wearing thin with her friend, "that I'm not in love with you. I never have been and I never will be. There's nothing you can do to change it, either. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

"You love me," he told her, confidently.

"No, no I don't."

"Yes, _you do_! You have to! Ashley said you—"

"Ashley said?"

"Yes."

"And when was the last time that Ashley knew a thing about me, huh? We're not exactly friends. In fact, I'm pretty sure she hates me. She doesn't know a thing about me! Do yourself a favor, and the next time she gives you advice about me, do the opposite." Matt scoffed.

"Whatever, I'm done here." He said

"Yes, you most certainly are. Go home, Matt." His only response was to stomp back to his car, open the driver's side door, get in and slam it shut. The car started abruptly, loudly, and with a screech of the tires, the car took off down the road. Matt was gone. "And don't come back," she whispered.

Now alone on the sidewalk, Josie felt foolish. Her cheeks flushed, and her head bent down, her eyes studying the cement beneath her feet. Slowly, her hold on the flowers loosened and the bouquet fell to the ground. She wandered back toward the step in front of the door and sat down, burying her head in her hands, wondering where everything had gone wrong.

* * *

A/N: You all have no idea how long I've waited to post that last scene. It's been in my head since August, I wrote out most of it in November and now, finally, in March, you all get to see it too.

Don't expect any updates between now and mid-May. I'm buried in school work and have practically no free time.

I look forward to hearing what you think!


	12. Waiting On You

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 11- Waiting On You

**June 19, 1981**

When the morning sun flittered through the curtains that were swaying back and forth from breeze that came in through the open window, Josie found her eyes slowly opening of their own accord. For a moment, she laid in bed, not moving, her breathing slow and relaxed, her eyes only half open. Her limbs felt like lead sinking into the mattress. The sleeping potion that Marlene had given her had worked wonders—after the disaster that was the night before, the last thing that Josie wanted to add to it were nightmares. But the lethargy she was feeling now was certainly an unpleasant aftereffect. She knew that she needed to get out of bed; in fact, the sooner she did, the sooner this whole mess could attempt to be resolved. But the actual act of leaving her bed seemed so daunting. With some effort, she rolled over and sat up. Stumbling to the bathroom, she reached for the shower and turned the water on as hot as she could. While the water warmed up, she looked in the mirror. Lately she had avoided her ritual; she was afraid of what she would see. But now she couldn't tear her eyes away. Her skin was paler than usual, making her look unhealthy and sickly. It didn't help that there were dark, purple circles under her eyes, which were slightly red at the edges. The fact was that the previous night had been the first full night of uninterrupted sleep she had since before the attack. She had lost a little weight—her irregular meal times, if she ate at all, attributing to this. Her already skinny awkwardness was now exaggerated to the point of frailty. Her hair was limp and hanging, an unshapely mass on top of her head that didn't do anything to help her case. The darkness of the color only highlighted just how light she was. She pressed her lips into a flat line and decided right then and there that it was time for a change. No more sulking, no more feeling sorry for herself. It was time for her to _do something_. The steam from the water began to fog up the mirror and Josie finally glanced away from her reflection.

After her shower, she practically sprinted to Sirius' room. Skidding to a halt in front of it, she was surprised to see it closed. Her fervor from before settling down, she hesitantly knocked on it, hoping that he would admit her, or at least come to the door to hear her out. Silence was the only reply she got. With a frustrated sigh, she knocked again, this time calling out, "C'mon now Sirius, don't be like that, open up!" Silence once again. Taking matters into her own hands, she turned the knob, testing to see if the door was locked. The knob turned in her grip and gently, she applied pressure to the door, opening it, uncertainty in her every move. The door creaked open, and finally Sirius' room filled her field of vision. But Sirius did not. Disappointed, she stood in the doorway, trying to figure out what to do next. She could hardly explain herself when Sirius wasn't there to hear it. And that's when she heard it.

"Padfoot? You there?" Slowly, she stepped into the room, trying to find the source of the male voice. Obviously, no one was there, but the voice had to come from somewhere. It couldn't just come out of nowhere. "Sirius?" she heard the voice again and quickly her eyes followed her ears, landing on the bedside table. A small, rectangular mirror lay on it. Remembering Sirius talking to someone in it earlier, she impulsively picked up the mirror. She looked into it, expecting like usual to see her own reflection, but instead was met with a young man with disorderly black hair and glasses. She visibly startled, but the next second was immediately curious.

"What in the world…" she trailed off and examined the mirror closely, flipping it over and changing the angle so that she could view every part of it. Even after she had been scarred by magic, it still managed to fascinate and excite her. Small trifles like this amazed her; in moments of discovery, everything seemed possible. As her examination continued, she sat down on the bed.

"Who are you? And what are you doing with this mirror?" The voice spoke again, while Josie continued to inspect it. She shrugged, but then, remembering he couldn't see her, brought the mirror back to focus on her face.

"I'm Josie. And well…I just happened to be here when you started talking. I was curious." The young man in the mirror frowned.

"Where's Sirius?" Josie snorted.

"Hell if I know. He's not exactly my biggest fan right now." The man's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and his glasses slid down his nose. Carelessly, without a thought, he pushed them back up.

"Do you know when he's going to be back?" His voice was concerned.

"No."

"Then what are you doing sifting through his belongings?"

"I was looking for him myself. But he's not here. Obviously. So I was trying to figure out what to do next and then you…er…called."

"So you decided to answer?"

"I told you, I was curious!"

"Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought it back. Whoop-di-doo, we can quote a nursery rhyme." She stared at the mirror and the man stared back at her, challenging her. "So, you're James right?" The man seemed surprised that she knew his name.

"Yes, I am," he confirmed, hesitantly.

"I could tell. Sirius talks about you a lot. I'm Josie."

"So you've said."

"Oh right. Yeah. I remember that. So then, you haven't heard from Sirius either?" James shook his head.

"I didn't even know anything was wrong. What exactly happened?" Josie bit her lip and hesitated.

"Well, you see…"

"Yes?" James coaxed.

"He got angry at me last night and stormed off," Josie finally settled on saying, keeping most of the story to herself. She had already spilled her guts to Marlene. The last thing she needed or wanted was for every wizard or witch that came along to know her life's problems. Besides, she had only just met the man. James ran a hand through his unruly, black hair.

"He stormed off? Well, that's not good."

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious." Josie was slowly losing her patience with this whole thing.

"He's probably at Remus'. Or Marlene's. I'm sure he's fine. If he wasn't, there would have been word by now." Josie rolled her eyes.

"Sirius can take care of himself. I'm not worried about him getting hurt. I'm worried about how I'm going to fix this mess!"

"There's not much you can do right now. He'll turn up soon enough. He only stormed off for three days last time, when—"James stopped abruptly.

"What? It's rude to start a story, and then not finish it."

"Well, I don't quite know if he would want you to know." James stated, clearly trying to avoid spilling all of Sirius' secrets. It had been a long time since he had talked to someone who wasn't a close friend, who didn't know every last detail. And now was certainly not the time to go trust anyone that didn't. "C'mon. I'm just a…oh what was it?"

"Muggle?" James offered, helpfully.

"Yeah, that. It's not like I have anyone to tell."

"Look, really, it's Sirius' business. You'll just have to ask him." Josie sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Fine, whatever. Unless you have some advice about fixing things between me and Sirius, then I should probably go."

"You'd be surprised how far an apology will go with Sirius," James commented.

"Well, how the hell am I supposed to apologize if the git isn't around to apologize to?" Josie snapped.

"Hey now, I'm trying to help! Don't get mad at me." Josie took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Anyways, as I was saying, apologies—_sincere ones_, mind you—go far with Sirius. But he has to be ready to hear it." Josie sent James her most incredulous look. "Give him time, he'll come around."

"So you want me to wait?" From her tone of voice, it was clear that Josie was doubtful of this plan working.

"Yes," James stated with a nod.

"I hate waiting," Josie retorted.

"Patience is a virtue."

"Oh there you go again, spewing out fortune cookie phrases in an attempt to appear wise." Instead of getting angry or offended, like she thought he would, James just laughed.

"I'm serious though. You've just got to wait."

"And how will I know when he's ready to talk?"

"Trust me, you'll know. I don't know if you've noticed, but Sirius isn't exactly an enigma in regards to his emotions. He wears his heart on his sleeve."

"James?" a woman's voice filtered through the mirror, but it sounded farther away. Through the medium of the magic mirror, it almost sounded like she was underwater.

"Ah, that'd be the wife." James explained.

"So it is," Josie replied, still a little annoyed.

"I should go."

"You do that."

"Bye now." And then James disappeared. A moment and a sigh later, Josie carefully placed the mirror back on the bed side table, got up off the bed, and left the room. With short look back, she shut the door quietly, and went to find Henry. He always knew how to take her mind off her troubles.

* * *

When Marlene returned to her flat that evening, she found Sirius sitting on her couch tying his shoe laces. "What, you actually thought you were going to slip out of here before I got back?" she asked him with a wry smile. He had arrived the night before, and Marlene allowed him to sleep on her couch. She moved to her bedroom and quickly threw her lime green Mungo's robes onto her bed, before circling back to the living room, where Sirius was still sitting, her t-shirt and jeans now exposed.

"I'm not slipping off anywhere," he responded, nonchalant. "Order meeting's in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, but it doesn't take fifteen minutes to walk to headquarters from the apparition point," she pointed out. Sirius shrugged, like he had expected this question, had prepared for it.

"I thought I'd go a little early. I wanted to talk to Mad-Eye about something." Marlene's eyebrows arched high, up into her fringe.

"Right. Sirius, you've never been early for anything a day in your life. Hell, you were late to Lily's and James' wedding and you were the _best man_. Now, I let you stay here last night and didn't ask any questions. So now it's time to spill," Marlene pressed. She was doing this for his own good, she told herself. The sooner he admitted the problem, the better everyone would be.

"If I get started now, we won't make the meeting." Marlene's lips pursed and she fixed him with a steely glare and he knew instantly that there was no way he was getting out of this. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"I want to know why you're being such an idiot."

"Well, according to you, and quite a few other people, I've always been an idiot," Sirius countered. Marlene was not amused by his joke.

"Seriously, Sirius, what right do you have to be angry? That's what I wanna know." Marlene's anger began to seep into her voice and Sirius' rose to meet it.

"And what do you even know about the situation, huh?"

"A whole hell of a lot more than you do, you idiot! Josie told me everything."

"How do you even know something's wrong with me and Josie, huh? I could be here for a variety of reasons!"

"Oh come on Sirius! Are you kidding me? There's nothing else that would leave sitting on my couch, sulking like a fifteen year old, who has just had his heart broken."

"What, exactly, are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything! I'm telling you right out: you're freakin' infatuated with the girl! Just as much as she is with you!"

"I am not!" Sirius responded, a little too hastily.

"Then why are you so angry, huh? She didn't even do anything wrong!"

"She didn't do anything wrong? She could've gotten herself killed! The world is increasingly dangerous and my deranged cousin has caught a whiff of her! She's in danger! And while I can put wards on her house, they only work if she's actually _inside_ the house."

"Oh come on, you've got to understand it a little bit."

"What I understand is that she blatantly disregarded the danger so she could go meet up with her boyfriend, who I should add, is a gigantic git that doesn't care about her one bit, regardless of what he says!"

"What if it was me?" This question confused Sirius.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I mean…what if it was you and me. What if I wanted to talk to you, but it was unsafe for you to go out and meet me. Would you?"

"Of course I would."

"Well then why are you mad at Josie for doing the same thing?" Marlene shouted, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

"But it's not the same, Marlene! We can defend ourselves. We've been trained to fight—we were trained to fight at school, for Merlin's sake! Josie's not. She's innocent and doesn't know what she's up against."

"Oh come off it, Sirius. She's not as innocent and defenseless as you'd like to believe." The two stared at each other in a stalemate, neither willing to admit that their opinion was wrong. Glancing at the clock Marlene decided that it was enough for the night. They had more important things to worry about, what with the Order meeting starting in the next five minutes. "I think you're out of line, but," Marlene conceded, "you wouldn't be acting like this unless you cared about her."

"Of course I care about her. But that's _my job_. I'm protecting her and her family. And she keeps making that harder and harder to do!"

"She keeps making that harder to do? Do I need to remind you that the only time that she's been attacked was when she was _out with you_. Not when she popped out to say hello to a friend of hers." Sirius' shoulders slumped under her accusation and hurt flickered across his face for a moment, before his features settled, turning impassive. Immediately Marlene knew that she had crossed the line. "Sirius—"

"Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"No it's not." But the platitude could do nothing to bandage the wound that her words had created.

"We should get going. We'll be late if we don't." Marlene sighed, knowing that there was no way to change Sirius' mood at that particular moment. Anything she could say or do wouldn't help.

"You're right, but before we do, I just…I…" Biting her lip, Marlene looked at Sirius carefully, wondering if the question she needed to ask would tip him over the edge or not.

"Spit it out, Marly."

"Fine. Why'd you come here?" Sirius' brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, why not go to Remus'? Or Peter's? You know they wouldn't interrogate you like I just did." Instantly, Sirius' eyes grew dark.

"Peter's away right now. And Remus, well…I don't know if I can trust him anymore," Sirius admitted.

"You can't trust Remus? What happened?"

"Nothing," Sirius waved off her inquiry.

"Sirius, he's been your friend since you were eleven! The whole lot of you are thick as thieves!"

"Yeah, well, someone's been giving away _information._"

"_What_?" Marlene was shocked. "How do you know?"

"Think about it: the last few raids, we've been ambushed. Members of the Order—not well known ones, mind you, like me—have been killed at an alarming rate. There's got to be a reason they know so much. There has to be a source."

"And you think Remus is the mole?" Marlene questioned, disbelievingly. "How could you even begin to think that? About one of your best friends too!"

"Think about it, Marlene! Who else in the Order has a reason to go over to Voldemort?"

"You can't possibly think that because he's a werewolf—"

"I don't like the thought of it either, but we have to face the facts here. Remus, out of all of us, has the most to gain!"

"No." Marlene was adamantly shaking her head so hard some strands of her blonde hair fell out of her pony tail. "Not Remus. Never Remus." Sirius didn't say any more. He had had time to think this all over, to process the fact that one of his friends, a man he had trusted with his life, had betrayed them all. Marlene hadn't. She would understand eventually, but right now was not the time to press the issue.

"I wasn't lying before. I really did want to talk about this with Mad-Eye. Not to name names. I don't want to accuse Remus unless I have actual proof, but there is a mole in the Order. And until we know who it is, we need to be a bit more careful."

* * *

**June 22, 1981**

Josie may have hated waiting, but wait she did. Sirius did not come back to Downing Street that day, but eventually returned the day after, with nary a glance towards Josie. He wasn't ready to listen, which was clear enough to Josie as she watched him stalk up the stairs to his room. Josie realized that, if she had any chance of apologizing, she should follow James' advice—after all, no one knew Sirius better than that scruffy haired man. So she waited. And waited. And then she grew fed up with this whole thing and went to find a distraction.

When Donna called her that evening, inviting her out to a party, Josie knew immediately that she would go. It didn't matter that leaving, especially without permission or a chaperone, was against the rules. Sirius was already mad at her for this. It's not like things could get any worse between them. Besides, she told herself, he didn't care anymore. He'd told her so himself the other night. And going out would be good for her—it would certainly get her mind off this mess.

While she was slowly working on the situation with Sirius (if you could call doing nothing working on the situation), but the situation with Matt remained at a standstill. She had no desire to talk to him, and to be honest, the space would do them good. She'd see him soon enough anyways—her birthday was a little more than a week away and her mother had mentioned in passing the other day that the Reynoldses had RSVP-ed to the event. She was sure it would be a ridiculously boring night, but at the very least, by then they both—because she was still very angry with him—should have calmed down some and they could talk about what happened. Hopefully they could both just forget this whole thing and move on with life, like it had been before. Except not. Because clearly the friends with benefits thing had to stop.

She tried to have a good time at the party, she really did, but it didn't distract her like she thought it should. Eventually, she bid Donna farewell and skipped out early, wanting nothing more than to go home. She laughed to herself in the taxi on the way—she was turning into such a wet blanket this summer! Not so gracefully—although she suspected it had more to do with the heels she was wearing rather than her state of inebriation—she entered her house and climbed the stairs, stumbling only twice. As she walked down the hall towards her room, she passed Sirius' and paused. Right then and there, she decided it was the right time to talk. She was tired of waiting and with the bit of alcohol she'd had at the party, she had all the liquid courage she needed to confront him. She opened the door a little too enthusiastically, and it rebounded against the wall. Sirius woke up immediately, his wand clutched in his hand, his face scrunched up slightly as the light from the hallway filtered into the room. He studied the doorway, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the new lighting, the shape of a human being the only thing he could make out.

"Josie?" The girl in question was standing in his doorway, swaying slightly. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Everything's fine." She took a step into the room, stumbling slightly, but eventually made her way over to the bed. She promptly sat down on it, but she seemed to be unable to remain upright a moment longer. She flopped down onto the bed, facing Sirius. Immediately he could smell the alcohol.

"You're drunk," he stated. She nodded.

"I am. But not very. I promise. I went out with Donna tonight. Nothing bad happened to me. I promise. I took care of myself just fine." Sirius sighed.

"Josie…"

"No, just…listen to me, please? James said that you would listen when you were ready but I'm tired of waiting to see if you're ready. I'm ready now. And I need to do this before I lose my nerve. I'm not brave like you, okay? But I need you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I went out unprotected, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!"

"You talked to James?" But Josie ignored his question.

"You were angry. You were _so_ angry, Sirius," she whispered.

"I was. But I was only that angry because I care."

"I know. I know. And I'm sorry. Forgive me? Please? I'm tired of fighting with you Sirius. I like you, I like you a whole lot, but we keep…" she paused trying to find the right word.

"Fighting?" Sirius supplied.

"Yeah," she murmured. "Fighting." She yawned and Sirius slid over a bit on the bed, to allow her to lie down properly next to him. "I don't wanna fight anymore. I just wanna have fun. But I can't, not when we're fighting. It bothers me too much."

"It's okay. I promise. We're all good." She smiled and her eyes drifted closed. "Go to sleep. We'll talk a bit more in the morning."

"Okay." She shifted slightly in the bed, getting more comfortable, her hands coming together to lay under her cheek. Sirius reached down and slipped off her shoes, tossing them onto the floor. Then he settled back down, wrapping his arms around Josie and pulling her close. He placed a small kiss on her forehead before closing his own eyes and going back to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Whew! Finally done! Hope you all enjoyed this rather long chapter and I hope it makes up for disappearing for 2 months. But you've got me for the rest of the summer, so expect some more updates and soon! Next chapter is Josie's birthday, so I'm sure you can imagine that it's going to be quite eventful.

Leave me a review, if you'd like.

Until next time,

NaP


	13. Thoughts of Flight

Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 12-Thoughts of Flight

**June 30, 1981**

For her seventeenth birthday, Josie and Matt had gone out. There was a festival going on in London and they'd taken off early in the morning and made a day of it. They spent the day arm in arm, occasionally kissing and acting couple-y, although Josie hadn't minded that much. He bought her candy floss and Josie ate it with such enthusiasm that the sugar crystals stuck to the corners of her mouth and it stained her lips bluish. Matt had laughed at her and told her she looked like she was in cardiac arrest. She had smacked him lightly upside the head, but laughed along with him. They had lay in the grass of a park and listened to the live band that was playing, enjoying the music, their hands intertwined. Later, Josie got her face painted—a rainbow and a unicorn adorning the left side of her face. That evening, they went out for a drink at a pub. Matt had gotten tipsy. Josie had gotten smashed. They stumbled home together and kissed passionately, in the foyer of her house. When the kiss had ended, Matt had caressed Josie's face, smudging the rainbow on her cheek, and he opened his mouth to say something. Josie knew it was coming, had been waiting for him to say something for ages so they could deal with it and move forward, but he never did. Her mother "stumbled" upon them, and ruined the moment.

Still, it was one of Josie's favorite memories. It was a memory that never failed to bring a smile to her face. Except for today. As she was dressed in an uncomfortable black and white strapless dress that kept falling down, forced to make small talk with relatives she saw twice a year—Christmas and Easter—while waiting for the Reynoldses to arrive, the memory made her a combination of wistful and sorrowful. She wondered what life would be like if her mother hadn't interrupted them. If Matt had confessed then that he was in love with her. She could admit to herself that she was probably a bit in love with him herself. But not anymore. If he had said something then, would she have said she loved him back? Would they have been a couple, like her mother had always wanted? No, she wouldn't have. Josie at seventeen was still incredibly stubborn. That hadn't changed. But she could see how, if he had said something a year ago that maybe, by now, she'd have warmed up to the idea and they'd be together. Hell, even if he had spoken up a month ago, at the beginning of the summer…before Sirius entered the picture.

But that didn't happen. But as she stood there waiting for him, adjusting her dress once more, and sipping on her glass of Coke, she couldn't help but wonder 'what if'.

Josie wasn't exactly sure what she was going to say to Matt when he arrived. They'd had no contact whatsoever since that night. She thought it best to give him some space. But with the moment of their arrival quickly coming, she tried to plan something to say to ease the awkward tension. They were still friends after all. _Best friends_, Josie reminded herself.

But were they?

And then they did come, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds sweeping into the sitting room where everyone had gathered and made their way over to Josie immediately. Mrs. Reynolds gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and both of them wished her happy birthday. Mr. Reynolds held a gift in his hands, neatly wrapped in red wrapping paper. Josie noticed Tony and Constance (it had to be Constance as the girl flashed her a small smile as she passed) run by, eager to talk with two of her younger cousins, Gemma and Thomas, who were closer to their age. Soon enough, William and Darcy Reynolds left her side and Josie glanced towards the doorway. Ashley and Matt were both there; they had not crossed the threshold into the room. Finally, Ashley entered, a determined look on her face that Josie didn't care to notice. She was focused on Matt, who took one look at her, turned around and left.

A sense of despair filled her, one that she had not expected to feel. Matt was supposed to listen to her. He couldn't still be angry. It had been nearly two weeks! She placed her glass on the coffee table and made to go after him, but Ashley prevented her. Grabbing Josie's arm, the girl pulled her slightly. "Follow me. We need to have a talk." Josie wrenched her arm out of the other girl's grip.

"You don't get to tell me what to do," she hissed and started off down the hall to look for Matt. Ashley followed her.

"He doesn't want to talk to you," she called out, but Josie continued on undeterred. She ducked into her mother's parlor, hoping that Matt had gone there for a quiet moment, but it was deserted. She whirled around, trying to figure out where he could be, but she didn't get a chance to move forward. Ashley was in the doorway, spreading her arms across the archway.

"Ashley, get out of my way." Josie's voice was surprisingly calm. Ashley's eyes flashed with anger.

"No. You're going to leave my brother alone."

"Oh like hell I will! You don't have any right to tell me who I can and cannot associate with."

"He doesn't want to see you right now. He doesn't want to talk to you. Hell, he doesn't even want to hear your name."

"If he would just listen to what I had to—"

"No. He is not going to listen to what you have to say. You've done enough damage, Josephine Flanders!"

"I'm trying to fix that damage," Josie insisted eagerly.

"No you're not!" Ashley responded quickly. "You're just trying to make yourself feel less guilty for screwing around with his feelings."

"I didn't screw around with his feelings." Josie couldn't believe what the other girl was saying. Hadn't she done the right thing in regards to Matt? Who was she, to paint her out to be some maneating shrew who messed with people's lives?

"Oh, and what do you call this masquerade of 'friends with benefits' that you two have been pulling for the past two years, huh?"

"It's not like I lead him on!"

"But that's exactly what you did!"

"We had an _arrangement_," Josie tried to explain, her voice slow and patronizing. "And before it started, we agreed that it was no strings attached affection. I didn't want a relationship and neither did he. And if he did, well then he wasn't being honest with me when he should have. I never lead your brother on. From the very beginning I was explicitly clear about what I did and did not want from him. And we both agreed that, in the event that one of us developed feelings for the other, then we'd call the whole thing off! We'd stop. And then we'd figure out how to move forward, because our friendship was the most important thing. And that, Ashley, is why I'm trying to find your brother, so I can fix this mess, and we can hopefully get on with our lives with our friendship intact!"

"Oh, who are you fooling, Josie. You're just so scared of commitment that you're failing to see what's right in front of you. My brother loves you and you love him. But you're too much of a chicken to act on it!" Ashley accused.

"You're right. Commitment scares the pants of me. I'm not perfect. I have flaws, Ashley. You would certainly know, as it's all you ever see when you look at me. But that's not why I don't want to be in a relationship with your brother. The fact of the matter is that I'm not in love with him, like you and everyone else in the goddamn world seem to believe!"

"Stop lying to yourself," Ashley all but growled.

"_Ashley_!" Matt was standing behind his sister, his eyes dark and unforgiving as he looked at the pair of women in the parlor. "That's enough." Ashley's face colored.

"But Matt—"

"Go back to the other room. Mom was looking for you." Ashley pursed her lips, clearly annoyed at being dismissed, but she did as she was told. She stalked down the hallway and when her footsteps faded away and she disappeared from his sight, Matt turned his gaze to Josie. She was standing apprehensively, her left arm crossing her body to clutch the elbow of her right. Her gaze was on the floor, her posture deflated. He took a deep breath and stepped into the room. "We should sit." He motioned towards the chairs in the room, but Josie didn't move.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"A bit." Matt shrugged.

"Matt…" Josie started.

"No, no. It's good. I needed to hear it." Josie sighed.

"I know. But…I wouldn't have said it like that. Not to you."

"Look, Josie," she peered out at him from under her lashes, watching a he nervously began to pace. "I can't…"

"You can't," Josie repeated when Matt didn't continue, prompting him to continue.

"I know that we agreed that we'd always be friends, even if this…thing between us stopped. But I can't be your friend right now. I just…can't."

"Oh. Okay then," Josie murmured.

"Okay. I'm gonna go now."

"Um, you know," Josie finally lifted her head and looked Matt in the eye, "if you want, you could go hide out in my room for the party. I'll just tell everyone you were feeling ill." Matt shot her a smile, but it quickly disappeared off his face, as if he remembered who he was smiling at.

"No. I'll be okay for tonight. Just…"

"We're not friends. I got it."

"Right."

"And, um, Matt?"

"Yeah, Josie?"

"You'll let me know, right? When we can be friends again?"

"_If_ we can be friends again, then yeah, I'll let you know." And with those words he exited the parlor. Josie sighed and drifted over to one of the chairs, plopping down. Her eyes were welling up with tears. She pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, pressing on her tear ducts, and breathed in deeply, trying to ward off the tears. She waited a moment, and thankfully, they subsided.

But now she had no excuse to stay in the parlor. So she got up and went back to the living room, where everyone was still gathered. She glanced at the clock in the hall on her way out. It wouldn't be long now, before dinner was served. Dessert wouldn't be long afterwards. And then everyone would leave, and the day would be over. And then, _only then_, would she allow herself to cry.

* * *

"Oi! Josie! Where you going?" Josie stopped where she was, three steps up the flight, her high heels that she had slipped off just moments before in her hand. The night was over. Dinner had been lovely, but tense. Dessert had been eaten. Presents had been opened. She'd thanked everyone for coming and they had all filtered out the door not ten minutes ago. And now, here was Sirius, trying to prevent her from flopping down in her bed and not moving until morning.

"I'm tired, Sirius. And I'm going to bed." Her voice was strained.

"You can't go to bed now!"

"I can and I will." And she began to make her way up the stairs again.

"Wait, Josie wait! I have a gift for you."

"Can't it wait until the morning?" Josie whined.

"No, it can't." he moved toward the stairs and handed her a box. It was wrapped in blue paper with brooms and balls that flew around. She stared at it for a moment, watching them zip around, fascinated, before Sirius prompted her, "Go on, open it."

"You didn't have to buy me a gift, Sirius. I don't need anything." But the truth was Josie was touched. She never thought Sirius would get her a gift, especially because she hadn't mentioned her birthday to him at all.

"Of course I did. Eighteen is an important year for you muggles, right?" She giggled.

"Yeah, yeah it is." She began to open it, carefully detaching the paper where it had been taped down; the wrapping paper was too interesting to rip. Sirius waited patiently as she unwrapped the gift, revealing a white box. Sitting down on the stairs, Josie perched the box on her lap and lifted off the top, revealing a gorgeous, white leather coat, with fringe along the arms and back. "Oh my God. Sirius! It's wonderful!"

"Go on then, put it on."

"I don't need to wear a leather jacket to bed, Sirius."

"I thought we established that you weren't going to bed."

"No you're not. C'mon, go get changed. And wear that jacket! I have another surprise for you."

"Sirius, really, I'm tired, and except for this moment right now, I've had a crap night. Can't whatever you have planned wait?"

"No. Now, if you're not ready to go in ten minutes, then I'm going to drag you out in whatever you're wearing. And trust me, you going to want a good pair of jeans and that jacket." Josie stayed on the stairs, only moving to cross her arms over her chest in a challenge. Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. "Go on now. Don't think I won't do it. You've got nine minutes now."

"Fine." Josie stood up and began to climb the stairs again. "But I'm not happy about it." The next nine minutes went by quickly for Josie but dragged on for Sirius who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. While Josie changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Sirius began to question what he was doing. He shifted his weight back and forth on his feet, swaying slightly, as he waited. He was jittery, his hands playing with the hem of his shirt. And the longer that he waited, the more it appeared that the self-confident persona that he projected was really just a façade. Sirius Black was nervous. And while he played that he would go and get Josie, he knew he'd be crushed if she didn't come down.

Marlene had been right. He didn't want to admit it, but he fancied the pants off Josie Flanders. It had been a long time since he'd felt like this, and with everything else that was going on at the moment, he wasn't sure if he could handle the rejection. What little hope he had left clung to the possibility of her returning his feelings.

Thankfully, Josie came down the stairs, wearing her new leather jacket and a broad smile. Sirius smiled back at her.

"Shall we?"

"Are you going to tell me what we're doing?"

"It'll be easier if I showed you. C'mon, it's outside." Josie huffed playfully, but followed him to the door and outside. On the street was a parked motorbike. "Ta da!"

"It's a motorbike." Sirius' smile grew wider.

"It's not just any motorbike, it's _my_ motorbike." He walked up to it and picked up the two helmets that were perched on the seat. Keeping one to himself, he reached out and offered the other to Josie. Gently, she took it from him, but she didn't put it on.

"This is what you wanted to show me? Your motorbike?" Sirius nodded.

"Yeah, we're going for a ride." Josie rolled her eyes.

"This is what couldn't wait?" Sirius nodded once more. "You may find this hard to believe, Sirius, but this isn't exactly the first time I've been on a motorbike."

"Not like this one."

"Oh? What does that mean? Did you do something freaky to it? I mean, is it magic?" Josie questioned excitedly.

"Of course it is!"

"What does it do?" Sirius' eyes lit up in the dark, mischievous.

"You're just gonna have to wait and see, won't you?" He walked over to the motorbike and got on, putting the helmet on his head. He started it and with the first roar of the engine, Josie put her helmet on and got behind him, circling her arms around his torso. The bike took off fast, faster than Josie thought was probably safe and she clung tighter to Sirius. Suddenly, the bike turned down an alley; it was a dead end, but Sirius wasn't slowing down.

"Sirius!" Josie yelled in his ear over the noise of the motorbike, but he continued undeterred. Suddenly, the bike took flight, levitating out of the alleyway and up into the sky. Terrified, Josie screamed and dug her fingers into Sirius, her eyes squeezed shut. As their ascent stopped being so steep and the motorbike leveled out in the sky, Josie opened one eye. The sight of the night sky and the twinkling lights of London below them awed her. Her eyes opened wide now, her grip on Sirius slackened as they sped across the sky. Not knowing where to focus, her eyes flitted from the stars, the clouds, the buildings of London, to the man sitting in front of her. A disbelieving laugh bubbled up from her throat that soon formed into an enthusiastic whoop. Getting more comfortable on the bike—she was now reassured that they weren't going to fall out of the sky—Josie slowly let go of Sirius and threw her arms out to the side and closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of flight.

Eventually, the ride ended, Sirius landing in a field. Josie had no idea where they were, only that they were clearly outside of London. When the motorbike came to a stop, Josie hopped off and lifted the helmet from her head. Shaking out her hair, she began to chatter, adrenaline from the experience still coursing through her.

"Sirius, that was the most _amazing _thing I've ever done." Sirius got off the bike slowly. Josie began to pace, having too much energy to stay in one spot. "I mean, we were _flying_! We were in the air! I felt a cloud run through my fingers!" She was babbling, but she couldn't stop. "It was just so…_exhilarating_. I mean, it was like sky diving, but backwards. And safer, because—" Sirius grabbed hold of her wrist and immediately she stopped pacing, frozen mid-step, mid-sentence. They locked eyes, but neither of them said anything. Time almost seemed to slow, to allow them both to drag out this particular moment as long as possible. The contact between them, the feeling of his hand on her wrist, stopped all her thoughts and she could only focus on the fact that he was touching her, _touching her_, softly, sweetly, almost nervously. Hyperaware of his skin on hers, her whole arm began to tingle and a shiver went through her. Sirius didn't seem to notice; he also seemed to be preoccupied with the fact that his hand and her wrist were connected. Impulsively, he pulled her towards him.

Slowly, she allowed herself to be drawn into his chest. Finally contact was severed; he dropped her wrist, and suddenly time began to catch up again, and what felt like an eternity before, felt like far too little time now. He could feel it too, and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, in a foolish attempt to stop time from passing once more. Josie placed her hands on his chest. She could feel his heart beating rapidly under her right hand. Their eyes had never left each other's, and now, closer to Sirius, Josie had to tilt her head slightly to maintain eye contact. He was smiling the widest smile she had ever seen. She grinned back at him. Sirius swallowed thickly, preparing to speak.

"Josie?"

"Yeah?" She responded, breathless.

"Happy birthday." And then he kissed her.


End file.
